Ripple follows Circle in seeking license to create its own bank in the US

Crypto payments firm has confirmed it has filed for authorization with the US banking regulator, days after Circle did the same

Cryptocurrency payments company Ripple confirmed on Wednesday (2) that it has filed an application with the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a national banking license.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse shared the news on the X platform, following a report by the Wall Street Journal.

“True to our long tradition of compliance, Ripple is applying to the OCC for a national banking charter,” he wrote. “If approved, we would have both state (via NYDFS) and federal oversight — a new (and unique!) framework for trust in the stablecoin market.”

Ripple’s move comes just two days after USDC stablecoin issuer Circle confirmed it had also filed for a national banking license. Anchorage Digital is currently the only digital asset company to hold such a license.

Ripple has a close connection to XRP, the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market value, which was created by the company’s founders. More recently, Ripple itself launched RLUSD, a stablecoin pegged to the dollar.

RLUSD currently has a market cap of $469 million — still smaller than market leader Tether (USDT) at nearly $158 billion and Circle's USDC at around $62 billion.

Stablecoin issuers are seeking banking licenses in part because of regulatory requirements under the GENIUS Act, which recently passed the Senate — and which President Donald Trump has said he wants to see passed by the House and sent to his desk as soon as possible.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Ripple would consider offering additional cryptocurrency-related services in the future if it gets the license approved.

Garlinghouse also said that Ripple’s custody subsidiary, Standard Custody, filed an application this week for a primary account with the Federal Reserve. This would allow the company to hold RLUSD reserves directly with the Fed and have more flexibility in processing its digital assets.

XRP is up around 5% on the day, currently trading at $2.26.