Circle wins OCC approval to launch national trust bank for USDC custody

Circle received final approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on July 10 to establish Circle National Trust, legally named First National Digital Currency Bank, N.A., as a federally chartered national trust bank focused on fiduciary digital-asset custody rather than traditional banking. The charter does not permit ordinary deposits, lending, checking or savings accounts, or FDIC-insured retail banking services. Circle said the entity will initially provide custody for Circle and its affiliates under direct OCC supervision, may later expand custody to a limited number of institutions such as banks and other regulated financial organizations, and could eventually move USDC reserve management into the trust bank. The approval places Circle among a small number of crypto-native firms with an OCC national trust charter and gives the USDC issuer greater federal oversight of infrastructure supporting its roughly $73.3 billion stablecoin business, though distribution, liquidity and competition remain unresolved.