Ripple gets final OCC approval to launch Ripple National Trust Bank in the U.S.

Ripple has received final approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish Ripple National Trust Bank (RNTB), a federally supervised trust bank that will handle reserves for RLUSD and offer digital asset custody to institutional clients. For high-risk operators and their payment providers, the detail that matters is simple: Ripple is now building a federal banking layer around its stablecoin and custody stack.

1. Under the approved business plan, RNTB will be allowed to operate in three areas: managing segregated reserve assets backing RLUSD, acting as trustee of those reserves on behalf of stablecoin holders, and providing fiduciary custody services for digital assets once the bank begins operations.
2. Standard Custody & Trust Company (SCTC), a limited-purpose trust company regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), will remain the issuer of RLUSD. Ripple acquired SCTC in 2024, and the new bank charter adds federal OCC oversight to RLUSD’s existing regulatory setup.
3. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said the national trust bank charter strengthens the regulatory foundation for RLUSD and for Ripple’s institutional products across payments, custody, and capital markets. In practice, that gives Ripple a cleaner supervisory structure for the products institutional clients use when moving crypto through payments, trading, and treasury flows.
4. The charter also expands Ripple’s institutional digital asset custody infrastructure under federal supervision. Once RNTB begins operations, Ripple says it will be able to provide these services to businesses integrating crypto assets into their payment, trading, and treasury operations.
5. Ripple said it will continue working with U.S. regulators as it prepares to launch RNTB and implement the regulatory framework established under the GENIUS Act. Ripple previously received preliminary approval to establish a national trust bank in December 2025, alongside 4 other companies specializing in digital asset operations.

The timing matters for the market because the OCC has already confirmed that trust banks can legally provide custody services, including services involving digital assets, and it has also authorized national banks to act as intermediaries in cryptocurrency transactions. Ripple’s move is part of that structure, not outside it.