Circle Secures Final OCC Charter for National Trust Bank, Advancing USDC Under Federal Oversight

Circle Internet Group obtained final approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on Tuesday to establish a national trust bank, a regulatory milestone that lifted the stablecoin issuer’s shares and deepened its integration with the federal banking system.

The regulator authorized Circle to charter First National Digital Currency Bank, N.A., which will operate as Circle National Trust.

The New York Stock Exchange-listed company, trading under ticker CRCL, said the charter places the new entity under direct federal supervision by the OCC, the primary regulator for national banks and national trust banks.

Circle National Trust will provide fiduciary custody services for digital assets held by Circle and its affiliates. Under the OCC-approved business plan, the bank may extend custody services to a limited set of institutional clients, primarily banks and regulated derivatives organizations.

The charter creates a pathway for the bank to manage the reserves backing USDC, the largest regulated stablecoin, which would bring that multibillion-dollar pool under federal oversight.

National trust banks differ from traditional lenders in that they safeguard client assets and provide fiduciary services without taking deposits or issuing loans. The structure aligns Circle’s digital-asset infrastructure with a long-standing model for holding client assets under strict fiduciary standards.

“OCC approval to establish Circle National Trust marks a defining step in bringing blockchain technology and digital assets into the core of the U.S. financial system,” said Jeremy Allaire, co-founder, chairman, and chief executive of Circle. He added that federal oversight of the trust bank “sets a new standard for transparency, governance, and scale” and unlocks a phase of adoption in which large financial institutions can build on public blockchains with confidence.

Investors responded positively. CRCL shares climbed as much as 14% on the day of the announcement, rebounding from a three-month low. Other crypto-linked names, including Coinbase and Strategy, posted gains near 5% as bitcoin recovered.

CRCL shares have since settled to a 5% gain.

Circle’s federal framework

The approval concludes a process that began when Circle filed its application on June 30, 2025. The OCC granted conditional approval in December 2025, alongside peers such as Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos.

The final decision arrives as the GENIUS Act, the federal stablecoin law enacted in July 2025, moves toward full implementation in early 2027.

That statute requires OCC supervision of large stablecoin issuers, and the trust charter positions Circle to meet the mandate while bringing USDC reserves into a federal framework.

Circle has built a record of regulatory engagement across markets. It received a BitLicense from New York in 2015, became the first global stablecoin issuer to comply with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework in 2024, and holds licenses in the United Kingdom, Singapore, Bermuda, and Abu Dhabi.

The charter strengthens USDC’s role as regulated digital-dollar infrastructure for payments, settlement, and capital markets, Circle said.

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