🏦 What happened: conditional approval of national trust bank
Ripple Labs has received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) of the United States to establish a national trust bank called Ripple National Trust Bank.
This was announced on December 12, 2025, by the federal banking regulator, and is part of a package of similar approvals for several crypto companies.
📌 What does “conditional approval” mean?
It is a preliminary step, not the final approval: Ripple must meet certain requirements before the license is definitive.
If it meets capital, risk management, and other regulatory criteria, it will obtain the full federal banking license.
This approval occurs within the framework of new U.S. regulations — following the enactment of the Genius Act (a law that clarifies rules regarding stablecoins) — and marks one of the largest approaches of a crypto company to the federal banking system.
🧠 What does this national trust bank allow?
A national trust bank under the supervision of the OCC can:
✅ Custody of digital assets and stablecoin reserves
✅ Offer fiduciary and custody services at the national level
(Cannot accept traditional deposits like a typical commercial bank, nor issue loans in the conventional manner as a bank with FDIC would, but can facilitate financial products related to digital assets.)
This positions Ripple to strengthen its regulated financial infrastructure, especially in supporting RLUSD, its stablecoin.
📍 Why is this important?
🟢 1. Deep legal and regulatory integration
This approval places Ripple within the federal banking system of the U.S.
Its operation will be supervised both by the OCC and, in a dual manner, by state regulators such as the NYDFS (New York Department of Financial Services).
This creates a new standard of compliance and transparency for issuers of stablecoins and crypto banking services.
🟢 2. Boost to the ecosystem of regulated stablecoins
With this trust bank, Ripple can manage RLUSD reserves with federal oversight, which may increase institutional trust and that of large clients seeking regulated crypto products.
🟢 3. Changes the relationship between crypto and traditional finance
The approval is not just for Ripple: Circle (USDC), BitGo, Paxos, and Fidelity Digital Assets also received similar conditional approvals from the OCC for national trust bank charters. This represents a broad movement of crypto towards traditional banking regulation frameworks.
⚠️ Limitations and conditions
✔ The current approval is conditional, not final.
✔ Ripple must meet certain strict requirements before it can operate as a full national trust bank.
✔ It does not yet mean that Ripple will offer traditional deposits or loans like a conventional bank.
Regulators have also highlighted that these letters allow fiduciary and custody services, but do not include traditional FDIC deposit insurance or full banking capabilities.
📊 What impact can it have?
📌 For Ripple / RLUSD
Greater regulatory legitimacy for RLUSD, providing a solid backing in legal frameworks.
Possible increase in trust from banks, institutions, and institutional clients.
Possibility of expanding financial services such as digital asset custody.
📌 For XRP
Directly, this license does not structurally affect the XRP token (for example, it does not change the network or decentralization), but it may support the institutional narrative and the perception of regulatory security around Ripple and its ecosystem.
📌 For the crypto market in general
This measure indicates that previous regulatory crises or tensions did not stop the advancement of crypto integration ↔ traditional financial system in the U.S., laying the groundwork for regulated products and financial services that can combine aspects of both worlds.
