Circle (CRCL), the issuer of the world’s second-largest stablecoin, USDC, has received approval from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish a national trust bank.
National trust banks are authorized to provide users with trust and custody services, but they do not accept consumer deposits or make loans like traditional commercial banks.
Shares rose 14% in premarket trading.
“The OCC’s approval to establish Circle National Trust marks a decisive step in bringing blockchain technology and digital assets to the core of the U.S. financial system,” Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said Friday in a statement announcing the milestone. “Federal oversight of our trust bank sets a new standard of transparency, governance and scale for Circle’s infrastructure.”
The move comes as crypto companies like Kraken increasingly seek federal banking charters, licenses and approvals. Crypto.com obtained an OCC license in February to operate as a federally regulated cryptocurrency custodian bank. BitGo, Circle, Ripple, Paxos and Fidelity Digital Assets received similar conditional approvals in December.
