Circle takes banking step with U.S. trust bank approval
The approval adds to a growing list of crypto firms seeking federal banking licenses as the industry moves into the regulated financial system.
By Olivier Acuna|Edited by Jamie Crawley
Updated Jul 10, 2026, 11:56 a.m. Published Jul 10, 2026, 11:41 a.m.
Share this article
Summary
Circle (CRCL), the issuer of the world’s second largest stablecoin USDC, received approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish a national trust bank.
National trust banks are authorized to provide users with custody and fiduciary services but do not accept consumer deposits or make loans like traditional commercial banks.
Shares are higher by 14% in pre-market trading.
“OCC approval to establish Circle National Trust marks a defining 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 such as Kraken, increasingly seek federal charters, licenses and banking 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.
Circle’s bank, which will operate as Circle National Trust, will provide fiduciary digital asset custody services for Circle and its affiliates when it opens, according to its statement. Under its approved business plan, the bank could later offer custody services to a limited number of institutional customers, including banks and other regulated financial institutions.
The charter also allows Circle to pursue future plans to manage reserves backing its USDC stablecoin under OCC supervision, though the company said reserve management remains a future capability.
Circle applied for the charter in June 2025 and received conditional approval six months later. The OCC’s final approval places the trust bank under direct federal oversight.
Circle’s USDC is the second-largest U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin with about $73.2 billion in circulation. Tether’s USDT is the largest with $184.1 billion.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
Digital assets posted a third consecutive quarter of losses in Q2 2026, the longest losing streak since the 2022 bear market, as institutional capital rotated into AI equities and Bitcoin ETFs recorded their largest quarterly outflow since launch. Our report examines what drove the divergence, where structural adoption continued regardless, and what Q3 signals to watch.
3 hours ago
Digital assets posted a third consecutive quarter of losses in Q2 2026, the longest losing streak since the 2022 bear market, as institutional capital rotated into AI equities and Bitcoin ETFs recorded their largest quarterly outflow since launch. Our report examines what drove the divergence, where structural adoption continued regardless, and what Q3 signals to watch.
Why it matters:
Digital assets posted a third consecutive quarter of losses in Q2 2026, the longest losing streak since the 2022 bear market, as institutional capital rotated into AI equities and Bitcoin ETFs recorded their largest quarterly outflow since launch. Our report examines what drove the divergence, where structural adoption continued regardless, and what Q3 signals to watch.