Ripple National Trust Bank Receives Final OCC Approval for RLUSD Reserves Management

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted final approval on October 26, 2026, for Ripple to establish Ripple National Trust Bank as a federally chartered national trust bank in New York. The charter limits activities to fiduciary services and excludes deposit-taking or lending. The bank will manage segregated reserves that back the RLUSD stablecoin and serve as collateral trustee for those reserves on behalf of holders.

RLUSD launched in December 2024 and reached a market capitalization of approximately $2.5 billion. Its reserves currently sit primarily with BNY, supported by monthly independent attestations. Issuance of RLUSD continues through Standard Custody & Trust Company, a New York Department of Financial Services limited-purpose trust company. The new federal charter adds OCC supervision alongside existing state oversight.

Scope of Approved Activities and Timeline

Ripple National Trust Bank received approval to manage reserves on a directed basis, act as collateral trustee, and deliver fiduciary digital asset custody services to enterprises and affiliates. The charter does not authorize broader banking functions. No opening date has been announced, though conditional approval terms set a contextual deadline around June 2027 for commencement of operations.

The application process began around July 2025. Conditional approval arrived on December 12, 2025, alongside approvals for four other applicants including Circle, Paxos, Fidelity Digital Assets, and BitGo. Ripple will coordinate with the OCC, NYDFS, and other regulators as operations start and the GENIUS Act framework takes effect. The OCC finalized related rules on October 21, 2026, with an effective date of January 18, 2027; those rules address collateral trustee arrangements under defined conditions.

Ripple will integrate the new entity into existing RLUSD reserve and attestation processes once operations begin. Existing stablecoin issuers face a compressed compliance timeline tied to the January 18, 2027, deadline for full alignment with the GENIUS Act.

Regulatory Context and Market Implications

National trust bank charters operate under narrower authority than full-service banks and align with the stablecoin framework established by the GENIUS Act, signed in July 2025. The OCC trust charter program itself faces ongoing legal challenges from community banks. Final approval strengthens the regulatory foundation for RLUSD through layered federal and state supervision.

CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated that the approval shows crypto and banks can work together under real innovation, accountability, and federal oversight. The charter positions Ripple National Trust Bank to support RLUSD usage within Ripple payments infrastructure and as collateral in Ripple Prime. No investment recommendations or price forecasts are implied by these developments.

Market participants tracking stablecoin custody can monitor OCC and NYDFS filings for updates on operational commencement and reserve integration. The structure provides an example of how issuers are adapting to the GENIUS Act requirements ahead of the 2027 effective date for new rules on collateral arrangements.