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Ripple National Trust Bank has received final approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Ripple disclosed on October 26, 2026, completing a chartering process that began when the regulator granted conditional approval in December 2025, Coinpedia reported. The decision places Ripple among a small group of crypto-native firms operating under direct federal banking supervision in the United States.
The timing puts the announcement just before Ripple Swell, the company’s annual conference, which opens October 27 in New York.
Also readCross River Bank adds Ripple's RLUSD to its core banking system
Key facts
- The OCC gave final approval to Ripple National Trust Bank on October 26, 2026, following conditional approval on December 12, 2025.
- The bank will manage reserves backing RLUSD, act as collateral trustee for RLUSD holders, and provide digital asset custody to institutions.
- RLUSD continues to be issued by Standard Custody & Trust Company, Ripple’s limited purpose trust company regulated by the New York Department of Financial Services, according to News.bitcoin.
- The charter does not cover XRP directly, Coinpedia reported.
- Ripple joins Circle, which secured final OCC approval in July, along with BitGo and Fidelity Digital Assets among crypto firms with national trust bank status.
What the trust bank will do
Ripple National Trust Bank is built around the company’s dollar-backed stablecoin. Its roles are holding and overseeing the assets that back RLUSD, protecting collateral on behalf of RLUSD holders, and storing digital assets for businesses and institutions under federal rules.
Those reserve assets, per News.bitcoin, include U.S. dollar deposits, U.S. government securities and other cash equivalents, with BNY as the primary reserve custodian. Ripple publishes monthly independent third-party attestations covering circulating supply and backing assets. RLUSD launched in December 2024 and operates across Ripple’s payments infrastructure, serving as collateral within Ripple Prime, its prime brokerage business.
Also readRipple and Arf bring RLUSD settlement financing to XRP Ledger
Garlinghouse calls approval ‘Big news’ before Swell
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said on X that the approval gives Ripple a federally supervised platform for RLUSD and enterprise custody. “We’ve always said crypto and banks work better together — this is what that looks like,” he said, adding that the change brings “crypto and traditional banking” accountability under federal oversight. “The revolution isn’t happening outside the system,” he wrote. “It’s happening from within it.”
Jack McDonald, who leads Ripple’s stablecoin business, said on X on October 26 that the approval goes beyond a charter on paper, describing how the bank brings federal banking supervision into the infrastructure institutions use. Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty framed the outcome as consistent with Ripple’s earlier choice to build within the regulatory perimeter rather than around it.
Where Ripple sits among crypto trust banks
Circle, the issuer of USDC, obtained final OCC approval in July, according to Cointelegraph. Other firms remain at the conditional stage, including Coinbase, which received preliminary approval in April, and Crypto.com and Stripe-owned Bridge, which received conditional approvals in February, Cointelegraph reported.
Cointelegraph also noted a structural point from the OCC: national trust banks are federally chartered institutions focused on holding and managing client assets. Most do not take deposits or make loans and do not carry Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insurance.
The reports differ slightly on the approval timeline. Ripple’s blog summary cited by Cointelegraph refers to a Monday announcement, while News.bitcoin dates the disclosure to Oct. 26 at 10:15 PM EDT and Coinpedia dates its report to October 27 at 03:36 UTC.
Why it matters
Large institutions frequently require stablecoin reserves to sit with a regulated custodian. A federally chartered trust bank managing RLUSD reserves lets Ripple meet that condition, which could ease use of the stablecoin by banks, asset managers and corporate treasuries. Ripple said it will keep working with the OCC, NYDFS and other regulators as the bank begins operations and the United States implements the GENIUS Act, the law setting a framework for payment stablecoins.
For XRP holders, the charter’s scope is narrower than some community discussion suggests: it covers RLUSD and custody. Coinpedia reported that any added liquidity or use for XRP as RLUSD grows is a hope among community members rather than a confirmed result.
What to watch
Ripple Swell opens October 27 in New York with more than 100 speakers, per News.bitcoin, and will connect financial institutions with XRP Ledger developers and researchers. Also pending is the planned integration between Ripple and LMAX Group that would allow trading collateral use, subject to testing, documentation and applicable approvals. Standard Chartered custody for RLUSD on the XRP Ledger, announced earlier in October, extends the institutional access already in place.
This article reports corporate and regulatory developments and is not financial advice; crypto asset prices are volatile and uncertain.
Sources: Coinpedia, News.bitcoin, Cointelegraph
