Ripple’s trust bank gets final OCC approval for RLUSD role

Ripple says the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has granted final approval to charter Ripple National Trust Bank, adding federal supervision for services tied to its RLUSD stablecoin and digital asset custody. In its Oct. 26 announcement, Ripple said the bank’s approved activities include managing RLUSD’s segregated reserves, acting as collateral trustee for holders and providing fiduciary digital asset custody.

What will the new bank do with RLUSD?

The approved structure separates issuing the stablecoin from managing its reserves. Standard Custody & Trust Company, Ripple’s New York Department of Financial Services-regulated limited purpose trust company, will continue to issue RLUSD. Ripple National Trust Bank will oversee the segregated reserves supporting it and act as collateral trustee for those reserves for RLUSD holders.

A trustee manages assets for the benefit of others under defined duties; here, the bank’s role concerns the reserves backing RLUSD. Ripple says the trust bank will also provide fiduciary custody services for digital assets. That means an institution can hold and manage assets for clients under the bank’s trust responsibilities, alongside the reserve role.

Does this make Ripple a regular commercial bank?

No. The OCC approval is for a national trust bank charter, a narrower type of bank authorization. The Block’s report on the approval says national trust bank charters do not permit deposit-taking or lending. Ripple’s new bank is therefore not being described as a place for customers to open checking accounts or take out loans.

The change is in who supervises parts of the RLUSD arrangement. The issuer remains regulated in New York, while OCC supervision applies to the new trust bank’s approved reserve and custody activities. Ripple says the final approval completes an organization process that followed conditional OCC approval in December 2025. The OCC’s earlier announcement listed Ripple among applicants conditionally approved for new national trust bank charters.

What happens next for the charter and RLUSD?

Ripple says the trust bank will provide its authorized services upon opening and that it will continue working with the OCC, NYDFS and other regulators as operations begin. The company also says BNY is RLUSD’s primary reserve custodian and that it publishes monthly independent third-party attestations of the stablecoin’s circulating supply and reserve assets.

So the immediate change is federal supervision for the trust bank’s approved activities, while RLUSD’s New York-regulated company remains the issuer. The next step to watch is the bank beginning operations; Ripple’s announcement does not give an opening date.

References

• Oct. 26 announcement — ripple.com
• The Block’s report on the approval — theblock.co