Ripple Wins Final OCC Approval for Its National Trust Bank

Published October 27, 2026, 4:20 AM PKT. Based on Ripple's October 26, 2026 Business Wire release (primary source), and reporting by CoinTelegraph on October 27, 2026, Coinlab on October 26, 2026, and PANews on October 27, 2026 (secondary sources). This is the first MABOnChain article on Ripple's final national trust bank approval; it is distinct from MABOnChain's earlier Ripple coverage, including its October 12, 2026 article on Standard Chartered's RLUSD custody launch.

Ripple has won final approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to charter Ripple National Trust Bank (RNTB), a federally supervised national trust bank, the company said on October 26, 2026. The approval completes the chartering process for RNTB, which received conditional approval from the OCC in December 2025, according to Ripple's release, which said the OCC itself announced the final approval. Ripple chief executive Brad Garlinghouse announced the decision on X on the evening of October 26 in the United States, ahead of the company's Ripple Swell conference in New York, according to Coinlab.

What the bank may do: RLUSD reserves, collateral trustee, fiduciary custody

RNTB's approved activities include managing the segregated reserves supporting Ripple USD (RLUSD), acting as collateral trustee of the reserves for the benefit of RLUSD holders, and providing fiduciary digital asset custody services, according to Ripple's release. The release described the approval as the culmination of RNTB's organization process and said it reinforces Ripple's commitment to building digital asset infrastructure inside the regulated financial system.

One part of the structure does not change. RLUSD will continue to be issued by Standard Custody and Trust Company, Ripple's limited purpose trust company regulated by the New York Department of Financial Services, according to Ripple. RNTB adds federal OCC supervision to the regulatory infrastructure supporting RLUSD, the release said, rather than replacing the New York issuer. CoinTelegraph reported the same division of roles: the trust bank manages reserves and custody, while issuance stays with the New York-regulated company.

Garlinghouse framed the charter as the practical version of a position Ripple has argued for years. "For years, we have said crypto and banks work better together. Final approval for Ripple National Trust Bank is what that looks like in practice," he said in the release. "We have spent over a decade building regulated financial infrastructure that institutions can actually use at scale. A national trust charter gives us an even stronger foundation for RLUSD and the institutional products we are building across payments, custody and capital markets." In his shorter X post, quoted by CoinTelegraph, he wrote: "We have always said crypto and banks work better together, this is what that looks like. Real innovation, real accountability, federal oversight."

What a national trust bank is, and what it is not

A national trust bank is a federally chartered institution focused on holding and managing assets on behalf of clients, according to CoinTelegraph, citing the OCC. Unlike a typical commercial bank, most national trust banks do not accept deposits or make loans and do not carry Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insurance, CoinTelegraph reported. That distinction matters for how readers should judge the approval: Ripple has not won a license to take retail deposits or lend like a commercial bank, it has won a federal charter to hold and manage assets and reserves under OCC supervision.

The charter also does not, by itself, change RLUSD issuance or the XRP token. Ripple's release says nothing about issuing RLUSD through RNTB, about XRP supply, or about a launch date for the bank's custody services, and Coinlab noted that it could not find the OCC's own decision text at the time of writing, so launch terms and timing rest on the company's statements for now. Readers should treat the approval as a regulatory foundation for products Ripple says it is building, not as a product launch.

The charter race: Circle is in, Coinbase and others still wait

Ripple follows Circle into the final-approval group, according to CoinTelegraph, which reported that Circle secured final OCC approval in July. Other crypto firms remain at the conditional approval stage, CoinTelegraph reported, including Coinbase, which received its preliminary green light in April, and Crypto.com and Stripe-owned Bridge, which received conditional approvals in February. The split between final and conditional approvals is now the clearest dividing line in the race for federal crypto banking charters: two issuers hold final charters, while the rest of the field still waits for the OCC to close out its conditions.

The approval also lands days after the OCC finalized its first rule implementing the GENIUS Act, the federal stablecoin law, which MABOnChain reported on October 21, 2026. That rule set reserve, redemption and capital standards for payment stablecoin issuers under OCC jurisdiction, effective January 18, 2027. Read together, the two October decisions show the federal stablecoin framework taking shape in sequence: first the rulebook for issuers, then a federal charter for one of the largest issuers' reserve and custody operations.

This article is news reporting and is not investment advice.

Sources

• Ripple, Ripple Receives Final OCC Approval to Establish National Trust Bank (October 26, 2026), primary source
• CoinTelegraph, Ripple Secures Final OCC Approval for National Trust Bank (October 27, 2026), secondary source
• Coinlab, OCC grants final approval to Ripple National Trust Bank (October 26, 2026), secondary source
• PANews, Ripple National Trust Bank Receives Final Approval from US OCC, Will Support RLUSD and Enterprise Digital Asset Custody (October 27, 2026), secondary source