Ripple said it has secured final approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish Ripple National Trust Bank, which will manage reserves for its RLUSD stablecoin, serve as collateral trustee, and provide fiduciary digital asset custody. The company announced the approval on Oct. 26, noting that RLUSD's market capitalization stood at $2.5 billion.
Approval follows banking industry objections
The charter was granted despite opposition from traditional banking groups. In July 2025, the American Bankers Association and four other banking and credit union organizations urged the OCC to postpone applications involving Ripple and other digital asset firms, questioning whether their proposed activities qualified as traditional fiduciary services. The Independent Community Bankers of America later opposed Ripple's application directly, warning that allowing nontraditional companies to offer deposit-like services without equivalent regulatory safeguards could threaten financial stability.
The OCC granted Ripple conditional approval in December 2025 before completing the chartering process this week.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said the company has spent over a decade building regulated financial infrastructure that institutions can use at scale. Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty described the approval as the result of a choice to build within the regulatory perimeter rather than around it.
Restricted scope and stablecoin focus
Ripple National Trust Bank will not operate as a conventional commercial lender offering ordinary deposit accounts or loans. Instead, it will oversee segregated RLUSD reserves and act as collateral trustee for token holders. RLUSD issuance will remain with Standard Custody & Trust Company, Ripple's subsidiary regulated by the New York Department of Financial Services, while BNY will continue as the stablecoin's primary reserve custodian.
Broader institutional expansion
The approval comes as Ripple expands its financial services business around the stablecoin, custody infrastructure, and institutional trading. 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, subject to documentation, testing, and applicable approvals.
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, with RLUSD available as collateral where permitted by jurisdiction.
Implications for XRP remain indirect
XRP is used to pay transaction fees and can facilitate transfers between different currencies on the network. Increased RLUSD settlement on the XRP Ledger could therefore generate additional XRP-related activity, particularly where institutions use it as a bridge asset. 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, although XRP is needed for network fees and account reserves. This means 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.
