Ripple Says OCC Gives Final Approval for Trust Bank to Manage $2.5 Billion in RLUSD Reserves
Key Facts
Ripple said on October 26, 2026, that the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency had granted final approval to establish Ripple National Trust Bank, following preliminary conditional approval in December 2025. The company said the bank would manage the segregated reserves backing RLUSD and act as a fiduciary for its backing assets on behalf of holders, in addition to providing digital asset custody in a fiduciary capacity. The currency has a market capitalization of $2.5 billion, according to Ripple’s statement, which said it is used in the company’s payments infrastructure and as collateral on the Ripple Prime platform. The announcement places proposed federal banking services at the center of managing the currency’s reserves and custody of its assets, while issuance remains with another entity. Chief Executive Brad Garlinghouse said the approval reflects what he described as Ripple’s belief that “crypto and banks work better together.”
Ripple said Standard Custody & Trust Company will continue to issue RLUSD. It is a limited-purpose trust company regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services. The announced structure thus separates the entity issuing the currency from the proposed national bank, whose responsibilities will focus on reserves, backing assets and custody. The company said BNY Mellon is the currency’s primary reserve custodian. It added that it publishes independent third-party attestations each month covering circulating supply and reserve assets. Ripple described the currency as fully backed by U.S. dollar deposits, U.S. government securities and other cash-equivalent assets.
The OCC’s applications page shows that the bank’s file, registered under number 2025-Charter-342347, includes an approval action dated December 12, 2025. The agency’s letter issued on the same date describes the decision as preliminary conditional approval and makes the start of activity contingent on meeting pre-opening requirements and obtaining final approval. Ripple is now announcing that final approval has been granted, while the action shown in the applications register remains dated December 2025. The OCC’s approval at the time was part of conditional approvals for five applications to establish national trust banks. The agency said that, after meeting their conditions, the institutions would join about 60 national trust banks under its supervision.
The preliminary approval letter’s conditions included a minimum Tier 1 capital requirement of $11.7 million. It also required the bank to maintain eligible liquid assets of at least the greater of 50% of Tier 1 capital or $5.85 million. Separately from those assets, the letter required the bank to hold eligible liquid assets equal to 180 days of operating expenses, without counting the same assets twice to meet both requirements. It required written notice to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s Bank Supervision Office at least 60 days before any material change to the business plan or operations. Implementing such a change requires a written non-objection from the office, while Ripple’s announcement does not say whether the letter’s conditions changed after the final approval it announced.
The 2025 letter set deadlines of 12 months to raise capital and 18 months to begin operations, measured from the date of preliminary conditional approval, with the approval expiring if either condition was not met. The letter also states that operations required completion of pre-opening requirements before the final charter was granted. The bank’s application received nine comment letters during the preliminary review, including four from groups representing banks and one from a single bank. Some commenters questioned the OCC’s authority to grant this type of charter. Ripple’s announcement did not provide a date for the bank to begin operations or details on the status of those requirements following the approval announcement.
The announcement comes as applications for bank charters tied to digital activities increase. Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould said in August 2026 that the agency had received 40 new applications over about 18 months, 23 of which involved digital asset activities. Gould described that as an eightfold increase compared with the four years of the Biden administration. When announcing the conditional approvals in December 2025, he said new institutions entering the federal banking sector were “good for consumers, the banking sector and the economy,” and strengthened products, services and competition. The agency estimated at the time that institutions in the federal banking system held more than $17 trillion in assets and managed more than $85 trillion under custody.
On reserves, Ripple’s transparency page showed that RLUSD’s circulating supply was $2.3828 billion and reserve funds totaled $2.528 billion, based on balances published on October 22, 2026. Those figures are as of the date the balances were published, while the company’s statement cited a market capitalization of $2.5 billion when it was issued on October 26. In the market, XRP/USD closed at $1.3092 on October 26, compared with $1.295 on October 23. Those closing prices alone do not identify the cause of the price movement during the period. On October 21, 2026, the agency announced a final rule implementing the GENIUS Act and said the rule and the law would take effect on January 18, 2027.
Ripple said it will continue working with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the New York State Department of Financial Services and other regulators as the bank begins operations. The company did not specify a start date in its statement, which also provided no details on the timetable for completing operational procedures. The preliminary approval letter had made the final charter contingent on meeting pre-opening requirements. In the meantime, RLUSD issuance remains the responsibility of Standard Custody & Trust Company under the arrangement Ripple announced. The company tied the bank’s start of services to the commencement of its operations without announcing a specific date.