The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced on December 12 conditional approvals for federal trust bank licenses to Ripple, Circle, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos. Ripple applied as ‘Ripple National Trust Bank’ and Circle as ‘First National Digital Currency Bank,’ reflecting an effort to integrate stablecoin issuers into the regulated U.S. banking system. All firms must meet specific compliance standards before receiving full authorization.