Ripple is charging into the regulated banking arena, seeking a national license and Federal Reserve access to vault its stablecoin into elite, federally supervised territory.
Ripple’s Dual Licensing Move Sets Compliance Benchmark for Stablecoins
Ripple announced on July 2 that it filed for a national banking license with the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The application would extend regulatory supervision of its stablecoin Ripple USD (RLUSD), currently overseen by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), to include federal jurisdiction. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse commented on social media platform X:
True to our long-standing compliance roots, Ripple is applying for a national bank charter from the OCC. If approved, we would have both state (via NYDFS) and federal oversight, a new (and unique!) benchmark for trust in the stablecoin market.
RLUSD, which holds a $469 million market cap, is backed by dollar reserves and Treasurys and was launched in late 2024. Jack McDonald, Ripple’s stablecoin lead, described the dual regulatory approach as setting “a new bar for transparency and compliance in the stablecoin market.”
The move places Ripple among a growing cohort of crypto companies seeking bank charters in anticipation of the GENIUS Act, which is expected to require such licenses for stablecoin issuers. Anchorage Digital remains the only crypto-native firm with a federal bank license, while Circle—issuer of stablecoin USDC—has also applied. Ripple’s strategy reflects a broader push toward institutional-grade infrastructure as stablecoins move closer to regulatory mainstream acceptance.
Standard Custody & Trust Company, Ripple’s subsidiary, also submitted an application for a Federal Reserve master account earlier this week. If granted, the firm could directly custody RLUSD reserves with the central bank and issue or redeem tokens outside normal banking hours. Garlinghouse noted:
We also applied for a Fed Master account — while Congress is working towards clear rules and regulations, and banks (in a far cry from the years of Operation Chokepoint 2.0) are leaning in, this access would allow us to hold RLUSD reserves directly with the Fed and provide an additional layer of security to future proof trust in RLUSD.
