Ripple gets final US trust bank approval. What does XRP gain?
Ripple has obtained final approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to operate a national trust bank, a move that grants it authority over its own stablecoin reserves and custody.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has granted final approval to Ripple to operate a national trust bank, a significant milestone for the company's financial infrastructure.
Ripple announced on Oct. 26 that the OCC approved Ripple National Trust Bank to manage RLUSD reserves, serve as collateral trustee and provide fiduciary digital asset custody.
The OCC's decision follows a prolonged dispute with traditional banking groups who had urged the regulator to postpone applications from Ripple and other digital asset firms.
Opposition from traditional banking groups
In July 2025, the American Bankers Association (ABA) and four other banking and credit union groups urged the OCC to postpone applications involving Ripple and other crypto companies.
These organizations questioned whether the proposed activities qualified as traditional fiduciary services and argued that approving the charters would represent a significant departure from established banking practices.
The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) subsequently opposed Ripple's application directly, warning that allowing nontraditional companies to provide deposit-like services could threaten financial stability.
Final OCC approval for Ripple National Trust Bank is the result of a simple choice we made years ago: build within the regulatory perimeter, not around it.
Despite those objections, the OCC granted Ripple conditional approval in December 2025 before completing the chartering process this week.
Bank's limited scope and responsibilities
The charter comes with specific restrictions, as Ripple National Trust Bank will not operate as a conventional commercial lender offering ordinary deposit accounts or loans.
Instead, the bank will oversee segregated RLUSD reserves and act as collateral trustee for token holders.
Ripple put RLUSD’s market capitalization at $2.5 billion in the announcement.
RLUSD issuance will remain with Standard Custody & Trust Company, Ripple's subsidiary regulated by the New York Department of Financial Services. BNY will also remain the stablecoin's primary reserve custodian.
We’ve 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’re building across payments, custody and capital markets.
Implications for XRP demand
The banking approval comes as Ripple builds a broader financial services business around its stablecoin, custody infrastructure and institutional trading operations.
On Oct. 12, Standard Chartered launched institutional custody for RLUSD on the XRP Ledger for eligible clients through its DFSA-regulated DIFC branch.
The bank also announced plans to work with Ripple and LMAX Group to enable the stablecoin's use as trading collateral.
The proposed arrangement would allow institutions to deploy RLUSD-backed collateral on LMAX's trading platforms while keeping the underlying assets in Standard Chartered's custody.
Three days later, Ripple Prime expanded into real-world asset perpetual swaps, allowing institutional clients to trade products linked to equities, commodities and currencies around the clock.
XRP is used to pay transaction fees and can facilitate transfers between different currencies on the network. Increased RLUSD settlement on the ledger could therefore generate additional XRP-related activity.
However, RLUSD also operates on Ethereum, where transactions do not require XRP. Even on the XRP Ledger, institutions can transfer RLUSD directly without converting the stablecoin into XRP.
This distinction means that Ripple's custody and stablecoin operations can grow without requiring institutions to accumulate XRP in proportion to the value of assets they manage or transfer.
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