Ripple lands its federal bank: the OCC validates the Ripple National Trust Bank

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The price of XRP did not flinch and was trading at $1.29 this Tuesday morning according to CoinGecko (+0.4% over 24 hours). The market had digested the news since December. The neighborhood has changed: Ripple joins Circle and BitGo among federal crypto trusts. At the same time, American community banks are suing the OCC to block access.

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Forget the agency with its advisors and booklets. A national trust bank does not take deposits or make loans. No FDIC insurance either. Its job is, in a word, trust: holding and administering assets on behalf of others under the supervision of a federal supervisor.

In the case of Ripple, the scope validated by the OCC has three components according to the press release published Monday. The bank will manage the segregated reserves that back the RLUSD. It will then act as a collateral trustee, that is to say as a fiduciary depositary of these reserves for the benefit of the holders of the stablecoin. Finally, it will offer digital asset custody services to companies that use crypto for their payments, trading or treasury.

The issuance of RLUSD is not moving. She remains with Standard Custody & Trust Company, Ripple's trust company licensed by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). BNY maintains its role as primary depository of reserves, mainly composed of dollar deposits and US Treasury securities. The new bank therefore piles federal supervision on top of the existing state architecture. Ripple has over 85 licenses worldwide. As for its stablecoin, launched in December 2024, it currently has a capitalization of around $2.5 billion.

“We have always said that crypto and banking work better together. This is what it looks like,” wrote Brad Garlinghouse on X on the night of Monday to Tuesday.

Big news heading into @RippleSwell: the @USOCC has granted final approval for Ripple National Trust Bank. This gives Ripple a federally supervised platform to support $RLUSD and provide digital asset custody to enterprises. We’ve always said crypto and banks work better…

On December 12, 2025, the OCC granted five conditional green lights at once. Circle and Ripple created new banks. BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets and Paxos converted New York trusts into federal entities. BitGo completed its conversion that day and has since operated under the name BitGo Bank & Trust N.A. Circle received final approval on July 10, 2026 for its First National Digital Currency Bank, after an application filed on June 30, 2025. Ripple brings up the rear. Ten months separate his conditional agreement from the definitive one.

The queue has gotten longer since then. Coinbase received a conditional agreement in April, Crypto.com and Bridge (Stripe subsidiary) in February. The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) sees this as a back door into the banking system. She therefore filed a complaint on October 2 in the federal court for the District of Columbia. The local bank lobby is attacking an OCC rule dated March 2026 as well as interpretative letter 1176 of 2021. It is also demanding the cancellation of Protego's conditional approval. According to him, the National Bank Act only allows trusts with fiduciary powers. The OCC would therefore have invented a fourth category of bank without deposits or trusts. Its members pay FDIC contributions and comply with the Community Reinvestment Act. Crypto trusts, no. Two member banks already claim to have lost customers to crypto companies with a conditional charter.

Ripple is not directly targeted by the complaint, any more than Circle or BitGo. The ICBA is not requesting the cancellation of charters already granted, only that of the rule and approval of Protego. However, a success of the banking lobby would weaken the legal foundation on which the Ripple National Trust Bank rests. Senator Elizabeth Warren accuses the OCC of violating the National Bank Act. The Digital Chamber responds that these charters are limited to fiduciary activities and that the companies have chosen federal supervision themselves.

For an RLUSD holder, the difference is in the fine print. The guarantee has until now been based on a New York trust and a depositary, BNY. Ripple adds independent monthly certificates on outstanding amounts in circulation and assets in reserve. A federal trustee is now added. Its legal mission consists of administering these reserves for the benefit of the holders. The collateral thus remains isolated in an entity supervised by the OCC even if the issuer defaults.

Timing matters too. The GENIUS Act, the American law on stablecoins adopted in 2025, comes into force by January 18, 2027. However, it reserves the issuance of payment stablecoins to issuers approved at the federal or state level. Ripple checked this box almost three months ahead of the latest deadline. RLUSD already serves as collateral on Ripple Prime, the group's institutional broker, and circulates in its payment infrastructure.

What about XRP? The token remains the settlement asset of the XRP Ledger and does not enter into any of the three activities authorized by the OCC.

The ICBA lists in its complaint 21 federal charters granted or conditionally approved by the OCC since January 2025. At least 13 of them concern crypto companies. File 1:26-cv-03441 names the OCC and its boss Jonathan Gould as defendants.

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Falling down the white rabbit hole in 2017, I went from avid reader to Editor-in-Chief of Journal du Coin. I like to get involved behind the scenes of projects to bring my vision of a decentralized future. A lover of beautiful letters, I coordinate our teams to transform technical complexity into human, precise information without unnecessary jargon. Between entrepreneurship and writing, my mission is clear: popularize tomorrow, but do it today.

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