Circle Wins Final OCC Approval to Launch Circle National Trust for USDC Custody

Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, said it has received final approval from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish First National Digital Currency Bank (FNDCB), a national trust bank that will operate as Circle National Trust. Circle said the approval, announced Friday, follows its June 2025 application for a national trust bank charter. CEO Jeremy Allaire described the decision as "a defining step in bringing blockchain technology and digital assets into the core of the US financial system," according to the company's press release. The move brings Circle's custody and trust-related activities into a federally regulated banking structure, though the bank's initial operating scope is set to be narrow under its approved business plan. Key points - Circle received final OCC approval to create Circle National Trust, a national trust bank. - At launch, the bank will provide fiduciary digital asset custody services for Circle and its affiliated companies. - Circle said services could later expand to a limited set of institutional customers if demand develops. - The structure could provide a pathway to manage the USDC Reserve under federal oversight, subject to future implementation. Launch scope: focused on internal and affiliate custody Under the approved plan, Circle National Trust will start by serving Circle and affiliated entities, a common approach for newly formed regulated institutions offering specialized services such as digital asset custody. Circle said it may later extend custody services to a limited group of institutional clients, including banks and other financial institutions such as regulated derivatives firms, depending on demand. Circle also pointed to the potential for the trust bank framework to support management of the USDC Reserve under federal oversight. The company did not provide implementation details, and any such step would depend on how the structure is executed in practice. Broader regulatory positioning Circle framed the OCC decision as part of a wider compliance push across major jurisdictions. The company said it was the first to receive a BitLicense from the New York Department of Financial Services in 2015, and the first global stablecoin issuer to comply with the EU's MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets) framework in 2024. It also cited approvals in the United Kingdom, Singapore, Bermuda, Canada, and Abu Dhabi. In related infrastructure efforts, Cointelegraph previously reported that Standard Chartered and Circle brought USDC minting onto banking rails, reflecting a strategy to connect stablecoin issuance and distribution more closely with regulated financial systems. Market reaction and USDC scale Circle Internet Group's shares (CRCL) rose about 16% in premarket trading on Friday after the announcement, according to Yahoo Finance data, trading above $73 after the prior close at $63. USDC was described as the second-largest stablecoin by market capitalization at $73.3 billion, according to CoinGecko. The source cited CoinGecko data showing USDC's market cap was up 16.7% over the past year and down 2.5% year-to-date. What investors may watch next Market participants are likely to focus on whether Circle National Trust expands custody beyond affiliated entities and whether Circle proceeds with any plan to place USDC Reserve management within the federally supervised trust bank structure. Both could influence how quickly USDC infrastructure integrates further with traditional financial oversight. This article was originally published as Circle Secures Final Approval for USDC Issuer National Trust Bank Charter on Crypto Breaking News – your trusted source for crypto news, Bitcoin news, and blockchain updates.