Circle wins OCC nod for US trust bank

Circle Internet Group (CRCL) has received final approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish a national trust bank called First National Digital Currency Bank, N.A. The bank will operate under the name Circle National Trust, giving the company a federally chartered vehicle within the U.S. banking system.

The approval follows a regulatory review process and confers a national trust charter on the new entity. This charter places Circle National Trust in the category of national trust banks, which are supervised at the federal level.

The national trust charter authorizes Circle National Trust to provide fiduciary digital-asset custody services for Circle and its affiliates. This includes the ability to act as custodian for Circle’s own reserves, creating a regulated structure for holding assets that support its operations.

The charter also permits the bank to hold crypto assets on behalf of institutional clients. Custody services under this framework are positioned for a limited set of institutional customers, depending on demand, within the bounds of the charter.

In addition, the charter is designed to enable future capabilities, including potential management of the USDC reserve under OCC supervision. Any such activity would occur within the regulatory parameters set by the national trust structure.

With this approval, Circle National Trust will be subject to direct federal oversight by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The OCC is the primary regulator for national banks and national trust banks, making it the key supervisory authority for the new entity.

Circle’s leadership has characterized the OCC approval as a defining step in bringing blockchain technology and digital assets into the core of the U.S. financial system. The move aligns Circle’s digital-asset activities with an established federal banking framework through the national trust bank model.