Ripple Seeks U.S. Banking License

Ripple has applied for a national bank license with the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). This information was confirmed by the company’s CEO, Brad Garlinghouse.

True to our long-standing compliance roots, @Ripple is applying for a national bank charter from the OCC. If approved, we would have both state (via NYDFS) and federal oversight, a new (and unique!) benchmark for trust in the stablecoin market.

Earlier in the week via… https://t.co/IdiR7x3eWZ

— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) July 2, 2025

According to Garlinghouse, the initiative will set a “new benchmark for trust in the stablecoin market.” If approved, Ripple’s stablecoin, Ripple USD (RLUSD), will fall under both federal jurisdiction and state oversight.

Ripple follows the example of Circle, the issuer of the stablecoin USDC, which also applied to the OCC for the creation of a national trust bank.

Both applications have been filed against the backdrop of the U.S. Senate’s passage of the GENIUS Act, which sets standards for organizations issuing “stablecoins.”

Garlinghouse also announced the application for a master account with the U.S. Federal Reserve System (FRS). This would allow Ripple to hold RLUSD reserves directly with the FRS.

The documents were submitted through the custodial firm Standard Custody, which Ripple acquired in February 2024.

The native token XRP responded to the news with an increase. At the time of writing, the asset is trading at $2.24 (+3.8% for the day), according to CoinGecko.

Back in April 2025, Ripple acquired the crypto broker Hidden Road for $1.25 billion.

In June, the company’s CTO, David Schwartz, stated that the mergers and acquisitions department is “very busy and has several potential deals at various stages.”