Circle (CRCL), the issuer of the world’s second largest stablecoin USDC, received approval from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish a national trust bank.
National trust banks are licensed to provide custody and trust services to users, but do not accept consumer deposits or make loans like traditional commercial banks.
Shares are up 14% in premarket trading.
“OCC approval to establish Circle National Trust marks a crucial step in bringing blockchain technology and digital assets into 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 for transparency, governance and scale for Circle’s infrastructure.”
The move comes as crypto firms like Kraken increasingly seek federal charters, licenses and bank approvals. Crypto.com secured an OCC license in February to operate as a federally regulated crypto custodian bank. BitGo, Circle, Ripple, Paxos and Fidelity Digital Assets all received similar conditional approvals in December.
