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Circle received final approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish Circle National Trust, a federally supervised national trust bank that will start by providing fiduciary digital asset custody for Circle and its affiliates. The company applied for the charter in June 2025, won conditional approval six months later, and now has the OCC's full sign-off to open the entity under direct federal oversight.
Under its approved business plan, Circle National Trust can later extend custody services to a limited set of institutional clients, including banks and other regulated financial firms. National trust banks can hold assets and provide fiduciary services but cannot accept consumer deposits or make loans, so the entity is a custody and reserve-management platform rather than a deposit-taking bank.
Why it matters
The charter gives Circle a regulatory path to eventually manage the reserves behind its USDC stablecoin, roughly $73.2 billion in circulation and the second largest dollar-pegged coin after Tether's $184.1 billion USDT, under OCC supervision rather than the current state-level trust regime. CEO Jeremy Allaire framed the milestone as "a defining step in bringing blockchain technology and digital assets into the core of the U.S. financial system," arguing that federal oversight sets a higher bar for transparency and governance than the patchwork of state regulators Circle has operated under since launching USDC.
The move is the latest in a stampede of crypto firms toward federal banking licences. BitGo, Circle, Ripple, Paxos and Fidelity Digital Assets all received conditional OCC trust approvals in December, Kraken has been pursuing a federal charter, and Crypto.com secured an OCC licence in February to operate as a federally regulated crypto custodian bank. Each new approval tightens the gravitational pull of the OCC as the de facto federal supervisor for institutional crypto in the United States.
Market impact
For USDC, federal trust-bank status is a structural legitimacy upgrade at a moment when bank-run and redemption risk on stablecoins is the central regulatory concern after the 2022–2023 depegs.
Frequently asked questions
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What did the OCC actually approve for Circle?
Final approval to establish Circle National Trust, a federally supervised national trust bank. It will start as a fiduciary digital asset custodian for Circle and its affiliates, and can later serve a limited set of institutional clients, including banks and other regulated financial firms.
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What is a national trust bank, and what can it not do?
A national trust bank is authorised to provide custody and fiduciary services, but unlike a commercial bank it cannot accept consumer deposits or make loans. Circle National Trust is therefore a custody and reserve-management platform, not a deposit-taking bank.
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Does this mean USDC reserves will be held under OCC supervision?
Not yet. The charter gives Circle a regulatory path to eventually manage the reserves backing USDC under OCC oversight, but the company has said reserve management remains a future capability that will require a further expansion of its approved business plan.
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How big is USDC compared with other dollar stablecoins?
USDC is the second-largest U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin at roughly $73.2 billion in circulation, behind Tether's USDT at about $184.1 billion.
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Where does this fit in the wider push for federal crypto charters?
Circle joins a wave of crypto firms pursuing federal banking licences. BitGo, Ripple, Paxos, and Fidelity Digital Assets received conditional OCC trust approvals in December 2025, Kraken is pursuing a federal charter, and Crypto.com secured an OCC licence in February 2026.
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