Circle Internet Group has received final approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish a federally supervised national trust bank, marking a landmark regulatory milestone for the stablecoin sector. The new entity, legally named First National Digital Currency Bank, N.A. and operating as Circle National Trust, will initially provide fiduciary digital asset custody services exclusively to Circle and its affiliates.
The OCC’s green light places Circle National Trust under direct federal oversight, a move that CEO Jeremy Allaire described as “a defining step in bringing blockchain technology and digital assets into the core of the U.S. financial system.” He emphasized that federal supervision would set “a new standard for transparency, governance, and scale” for Circle’s infrastructure, enabling leading financial institutions to build on public blockchains with clarity and confidence.
While the bank will not function as a traditional commercial lender, its approved business plan contemplates future expansion. Circle may eventually offer custody services to a limited group of institutional clients, including banks, financial institutions, and regulated derivatives organizations. Crucially, the charter could later support direct management of the reserves backing USDC, the world’s second-largest stablecoin by market capitalization. Reserves are currently held in cash and short-term U.S. government securities, and moving them under OCC supervision would add a new layer of federal regulatory assurance without transforming USDC into a bank deposit or providing FDIC insurance.
Circle filed its initial application on June 30, 2025, and received conditional approval in December 2025 alongside Ripple, Paxos, BitGo, and Fidelity Digital Assets. The final authorization follows the introduction of the GENIUS Act, a federal framework for payment stablecoins that established reserve, reporting, and compliance rules. This broader regulatory push, combined with Circle’s own charter, aims to integrate stablecoins more deeply into U.S. payments, capital markets, and settlement systems. However, the move has drawn criticism from banking groups like the Bank Policy Institute, which have questioned whether crypto trust banks could offer bank-like products without the same regulatory obligations as full-service lenders.
Circle already holds a New York BitLicense, approvals in the EU, Singapore, Bermuda, Canada, the UK, and Abu Dhabi, and is compliant with the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework. The OCC approval strengthens its USDC infrastructure by bringing critical operations into the federal banking perimeter, potentially setting a precedent for other stablecoin issuers seeking similar charters.
