OCC approves Ripple National Trust Bank for stablecoin reserves and custody

Ripple now holds a federal bank charter, placing the issuer of a roughly $2.5 billion stablecoin under direct OCC supervision. For BlockWest readers tracking stablecoin regulation and institutional custody, the approval adds a federal layer to a token that already had a state regulator.

• The OCC fully approved Ripple National Trust Bank, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse announced on X late Monday.
• The bank will manage reserves behind the RLUSD stablecoin and offer regulated custody services to institutional clients.
• RLUSD stays issued by Standard Custody & Trust Company, so it now answers to state and federal regulators.

• $2.5B RLUSD market value, placing it among the world’s top 50 stablecoins
• Jul 2025 Ripple’s application date, about five months before the OCC’s conditional approval in December 2024
• Dec 2024 RLUSD launch date, under two years before the final bank approval
• 5th XRP’s rank among digital assets, Ripple’s other core token alongside RLUSD

CoinDesk reported that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the regulator that oversees national banks, has approved Ripple National Trust Bank (RNTB). Garlinghouse announced the decision in a post on X late Monday (October 26). The approval lets the fintech firm run a specialized bank under U.S. federal supervision.

Final approval is the new step: Ripple applied in July 2025, and the OCC granted conditional approval in December 2024.

RNTB will hold RLUSD reserves and offer custody to institutions

The bank will manage the reserves backing RLUSD, Ripple’s dollar stablecoin. Those reserves are the dollar deposits, U.S. government securities and other cash-like assets that give the token its value. RNTB will also act as trustee for them.

Separately, it will provide regulated custody, meaning it safely holds digital assets for large companies using crypto in payments, trading and treasury management.

The approval fits Garlinghouse’s long-running pitch that crypto firms should build products banks and big institutions can actually use. Ripple builds blockchain and crypto tools for cross-border transactions and tokenization.

RLUSD keeps its New York issuer while gaining a federal layer

RLUSD will still be issued by Standard Custody & Trust Company, Ripple’s New York-regulated unit. RNTB adds another layer of oversight, so parts of the stablecoin’s setup now sit under both state and federal regulators.

RLUSD debuted in December 2024 and has grown to a market value of about $2.5 billion, which puts it among the world’s top 50 stablecoins. Ripple uses it in its payments business and as collateral on Ripple Prime. BNY holds most of the reserves.

Ripple also uses XRP, the world’s fifth-largest digital asset, to facilitate cross-border transactions. The CoinDesk report describes RNTB’s role only in terms of RLUSD reserves and custody, and does not tie XRP to the bank.

Ripple says it will work with the OCC and New York regulators as stablecoin rules roll out

Ripple said it will keep working with the OCC, New York regulators and others as the bank starts operating. It noted that it will work with regulators as the U.S. rolls out stablecoin rules under the GENIUS Act.

The reporting includes no comment from the OCC, New York regulators or BNY, so their positions on the new structure are not represented. It also gives no date for when RNTB will begin operating.

The BlockWest read. We read the approval as a custody and reserves story more than a licensing one. With BNY holding most reserves and RNTB acting as trustee, Ripple gains a regulated layer that institutional clients can cite in their own compliance reviews. Allocators weighing RLUSD against other stablecoins now have a federal supervisor to factor into that comparison.

RNTB’s start date is the next marker to watch, and neither Ripple nor the OCC has publicly set one in the reporting. The unresolved question is how GENIUS Act rules will apply to the RLUSD reserves the bank is set to manage. Ripple’s stated next move is continued work with regulators as operations begin.

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