Ripple wins final OCC approval for national trust bank

Key points

• OCC granted Ripple National Trust Bank final approval, Ripple announced Monday
• Trust bank will manage RLUSD reserves, act as collateral trustee and offer custody
• NYDFS-regulated Standard Custody & Trust Company remains RLUSD's issuer
• Ripple says RLUSD market cap is about $2.5 billion; Sen. Warren has criticized such charters

Ripple said Monday that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) granted final approval for Ripple National Trust Bank, a federally chartered institution that will manage reserves and custody for its RLUSD stablecoin, according to The Block. The approval completes a chartering process that began with a conditional green light in December 2025.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse announced the decision on X, saying that “crypto and banks work better together,” as Cointelegraph also reported. Ripple has also published its own announcement of the approval.

How the RLUSD structure will work

Under the arrangement described by The Block, the new trust bank will hold RLUSD’s segregated reserves, act as collateral trustee for token holders and provide fiduciary custody of digital assets for enterprise clients.

Issuance of the token will not move. Standard Custody & Trust Company, a limited-purpose trust company regulated by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), will continue to issue RLUSD. The federal charter therefore adds supervision from the OCC on top of the existing state oversight rather than replacing it.

National trust charters come with limits. According to The Block, they do not allow deposit-taking or lending. Cointelegraph, citing an OCC bulletin, reported that most national trust banks also do not carry FDIC insurance.

RLUSD and the application timeline

Ripple launched RLUSD in December 2024. The company says the token has a market capitalization of about $2.5 billion, according to The Block. Ripple uses it across its payments infrastructure and as collateral in its Ripple Prime business.

The Block reported that Ripple filed its application in July 2025 and received conditional approval on December 12, 2025. Final approval arrives roughly 15 months after the filing.

Other crypto firms and the political pushback

Ripple is one of several crypto companies that have moved through the OCC’s trust charter process. The Block reported that Circle received final approval in July 2026 and BitGo received approval in December 2025. It also reported that Coinbase, Crypto.com and World Liberty Financial received conditional approvals during 2026. Cointelegraph added that Stripe-owned Bridge received a conditional approval in February 2026.

The charters have drawn opposition. The Block reported that Sen. Elizabeth Warren argued the approvals violate the National Bank Act and pose risks to the financial system. The Digital Chamber, a crypto trade group, responded that national trust charters are limited to trust and fiduciary activities and that the companies voluntarily accepted federal supervision. Cointelegraph separately linked to coverage of a lawsuit by banking groups against the OCC over the charters.

What the approval means for RLUSD holders

For users and institutional clients, the practical change is who supervises the reserves. RLUSD’s backing assets and the collateral trustee role will now sit inside an institution examined by a federal banking regulator, while the NYDFS-regulated entity remains the issuer.

Neither outlet reported a date for when the trust bank will begin operations or when reserves will move to it. Ripple’s announcement and Garlinghouse’s post are the primary sources for any further timeline.