Circle wins OCC trust bank charter, to hold USDC reserves under federal supervision

Circle received final approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) on Friday, July 10, 2026, to establish Circle National Trust — a federally supervised institution that will manage the reserves underpinning USDC, the second-largest stablecoin with more than $73 billion in circulation. Circle's shares rose nearly 5% on the news.

The approval is the culmination of more than a year of regulatory work. Circle first applied to the OCC in June 2025, received conditional approval in December 2025, and obtained the final green light this week. The entity will operate under direct federal oversight — a first for a pure-play stablecoin issuer in the United States.

What changes — and what does not

Circle National Trust will not function as a commercial bank. It cannot take consumer deposits, make loans, or issue new USDC tokens. Its mandate is narrower: holding and managing the cash and short-term Treasury securities that back existing USDC in circulation, under OCC supervision rather than through third-party bank custodians.

That distinction matters. Previously, Circle relied on banks such as BNY Mellon and BlackRock-managed funds to custody its reserves — an arrangement that created both counterparty risk and compliance complexity. With a federal charter, Circle brings those assets in-house under a regulatory framework the OCC directly examines.

A race for federal legitimacy in crypto

Circle is not alone in pursuing federal banking status. Crypto.com secured an OCC license in February 2026 as a federally regulated crypto custodian. Conditional approvals from December 2025 cover BitGo, Ripple, Paxos, and Fidelity Digital Assets — with BitGo since upgraded to unconditional status. Kraken's parent company is also in the queue.

The wave of applications reflects a broader industry calculation: federal charters signal institutional-grade credibility, opening doors to pension funds, insurance companies, and sovereign wealth funds that are barred from engaging with unregulated custodians. It also positions these firms ahead of potential stablecoin legislation in Congress, where the GENIUS Act recently passed — a framework that would require stablecoin issuers above a certain size to operate under federal supervision.

What Circle can expand into

Beyond reserve management, Circle National Trust is permitted to offer fiduciary digital asset custody services to institutional clients — banks and regulated financial firms initially, with potential broader expansion. That puts Circle in direct competition with traditional custodians in the digital asset space. As reported by CoinDesk and confirmed by Bloomberg and CNBC.