OCC taps Ripple’s trust bank: RLUSD reserves get the final federal stamp

Ripple announced Monday that Ripple National Trust Bank (RNTB) has secured final approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), completing the chartering process after receiving conditional approval in December 2025.

The federally supervised trust bank is authorized to manage reserves backing Ripple USD (RLUSD), act as collateral trustee for the benefit of RLUSD holders and provide digital asset custody services, according to Ripple. RLUSD will continue to be issued by Standard Custody & Trust Company, Ripple’s limited purpose trust company regulated by the New York Department of Financial Services.

“We’ve always said crypto and banks work better together — this is what that looks like. Real innovation, real accountability, federal oversight,” Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said on X on Monday. The announcement came ahead of Ripple Swell 2026 in New York.

Ripple follows Circle, which secured final OCC approval in July. Other crypto firms remain at the conditional approval stage, including Coinbase, which received its preliminary green light in April, and Crypto.com and Stripe-owned Bridge, which received conditional approvals in February.

A national trust bank is a federally chartered institution focused on holding and managing assets on behalf of clients. Unlike a typical commercial bank, most national trust banks do not accept deposits or make loans and do not carry Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insurance, according to the OCC.