- Ripple and Circle are currently applying for National Trust Bank charters. This is an indication that the crypto industry is approaching the heart of traditional finance.
- The move also comes as regulatory pressures on cryptography began to ease under President Donald Trump’s administration.
In March, when Donald Trump’s presidency was still fresh, the Secretary of Currency (OCC) eased his stance on how banks can interact with the cryptocurrency industry.
They issued a letter clarifying that the State Bank and the Federal Savings Association are permitted to engage in certain crypto-related activities.
As explained by Crypto News Flash, this includes providing custody services to digital assets, handling specific Stablecoin transactions, and even joining the blockchain network as an independent valiter.
With increasing pressure on clearer regulations in the crypto space, Ripple and Circles, part of the industry’s name, are moving closer to traditional financial systems.
Earlier this month, Ripple Labs followed the footsteps of Circle, which submitted a similar application on June 30, and followed the footsteps of Circle, the second largest Stablecoin after USDT, and submitted applications to the OCC for banking licences across the country.
Analysts see this as a sensible and necessary step to not only strengthen the reliability of circles with regulators, but also improve access to the Federal Reserve system.
Anchorage Digital is currently the only cryptocurrency company that holds the National Bank’s Charter, but it could change quickly as the industry continues to mature.
The whole picture
In the X post, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse shared that if Ripple’s application is approved, it will operate in both state oversight through the New York State Department of Financial Services and federal regulations.
He called it “a new (and unique!) benchmark for trust in the Stablecoin market,” and reinforced his long-standing focus on building secure, reliable, compliant infrastructures for digital finance.
This double surveillance can go a long way in bringing much needed trust to crypto spaces, often considered unstable and loosely regulated. It also precedes the ripples in the future when it comes to Genius Law, a groundbreaking bipartisan bill aimed at establishing a clear national framework for regulating payment stability.
The law, which has strong support for the Senate and is now heading for the House, requires that issuers maintain full reserve support, undergo monthly disclosures and annual audits, and meet strict compliance standards under the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
Going it a step further, Ripple also applied for the Master Federal Reserve account. If permitted, this allows the company to hold reserves for Stablecoin, RLUSD, which was launched in December 2024 and is now directly valued with the Fed to be over $517 million.
It means faster and safer issuance and redemption of tokens without having to resort to intermediate banks.
Garlinghouse highlights the importance of this and notes that in the Stablecoin market, worth more than $250 billion, RLUSD stands out by putting regulations first.
