Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, kicked off a transformative trend by applying for a national banking charter from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) on June 30, 2025.
Now, Ripple, the privately held company behind the RLUSD stablecoin, has followed suit with its own OCC application on July 2, 2025. These moves signal a seismic shift in the crypto industry’s push to integrate with traditional finance, leveraging a crypto-friendly regulatory climate under the Trump administration to gain federal oversight.
Circle’s bid aims to establish First National Digital Currency Bank, N.A., allowing direct custody of its $61.5 billion USDC reserves, reducing dependence on third-party banks like BNY Mellon. Ripple’s application, paired with oversight from the New York Department of Financial Services, seeks to enhance trust in RLUSD and expand its XRP Ledger’s institutional use. Both companies are capitalizing on the OCC’s recent crypto custody rule, which permits banks to manage digital assets without prior approval, paving the way for broader services like institutional crypto custody.
The timing aligns with growing legislative momentum, including the proposed GENIUS Act for stablecoin regulation, which could further legitimize crypto in mainstream finance. Yet, challenges like regulatory scrutiny and market volatility loom. As Circle and Ripple, the latter still a private entity, pursue banking charters, their efforts could redefine the convergence of decentralized finance and regulated banking, setting a new standard for the crypto industry’s evolution.
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Dawson Blake is a financial markets expert with over 10 years of experience, focusing mainly on stock market news and price movements. He aims to become a top-tier authority in curating stock news content that readers can trust as their go-to source for market information. Dawson enjoys breaking down market activity, company updates, and daily trends to help investors stay informed and make smarter financial decisions. His writing is simple, clear, and designed to make the stock market easy to follow for everyone.