The license, if granted, would help the stablecoin infrastructure firm to “tokenize trillions of dollars,” co-founder Zach Abrams said.
By Krisztian Sandor|Edited by Nikhilesh De
Oct 14, 2025, 5:40 p.m.
- Bridge, acquired by Stripe, has applied for a national bank trust charter with the U.S. OCC to provide regulated stablecoin services.
- The charter would bring Bridge under federal oversight, allowing it to issue and manage stablecoins and their reserves.
- Stablecoins are a rapidly growing $300 billion asset class, increasingly used for cross-border payments, with Bridge playing a key role in this expansion.
Bridge, the stablecoin infrastructure company acquired by payments giant Stripe, applied for a national bank trust charter with the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), co-founder Zach Abrams said on Wednesday.
The move would put the firm under federal regulatory oversight if approved by the regulator. Through the bank, company would provide services including custody, stablecoin issuance, management of stablecoin reserves, Abrams said.
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“We’ve long believed stablecoins will be a core, regulated financial building block,” Zach Abrams said in a Tuesday X post. “This regulatory infrastructure will enable us to tokenize trillions of dollars and make this future possible.”
Bridge is joining a frenzy of stablecoin issuers like Circle (CRCL), Ripple and Paxos seeking federal regulatory oversight similar to traditional finance firms as the stablecoin sector is booming. Stablecoins, cryptocurrencies tied to fiat money like the U.S. dollar, are a nearly $300 billion asset class and becoming increasingly popular for cross-border payments. The growth has been aided by signing the GENIUS Act into law, improving regulatory clarity for the sector in the U.S.
Stripe unveiled earlier this month its Open Issuance service that helps companies to launch their own stablecoin using Bridge’s infrastructure. Crypto wallet Phantom’s CASH, MetaMask’s mUSD and Hyperliquid’s USDH stablecoins all rely on Bridge as issuance partner. Stripe acquired Bridge for $1.1 billion last year, making it an integral part of the firm’s growing ambition in blockchain-powered payments.
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What to know:
- Global asset management giant BlackRock is seeking a “larger role” in tokenization to enhance market access and efficiency.
- CEO Larry Fink anticipated substantial growth in the digital asset industry from the current $4.5 trillion market size.
- BlackRock issues the largest spot bitcoin and ether ETFs in the U.S., and is behind the leading tokenized money market fund with Securitize.
