Circle, the Issuer of USDC, Receives U.S. National Trust Bank Approval
In a decision that marks a decisive turning point for the cryptocurrency industry, Circle Internet Financial, the company behind the USDC stablecoin – the second largest stablecoin in the world – has obtained final approval from U.S. regulators to operate as a national trust bank. This charter, delivered by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), makes Circle the first crypto infrastructure company to obtain full federal banking status in the United States. The announcement, simultaneously confirmed by CoinTelegraph and CoinDesk on July 10, 2026, represents an unprecedented institutional validation for the stablecoin ecosystem and, more broadly, for the crypto industry as a whole.
The path to this banking charter has been long and strewn with regulatory obstacles. Circle initially filed its application with the OCC in 2021, under the Biden administration, when tensions between the crypto industry and U.S. regulators were at their peak. At the time, the OCC was examining with extreme caution any application from companies linked to digital assets, in a context where the collapse of FTX in November 2022 and the subsequent chain of bankruptcies had considerably hardened regulators positions. Obtaining this charter after five years of proceedings testifies to Circle resilience and its willingness to comply with the strictest standards of the U.S. banking system.
Circle entry into the U.S. federal banking fold has profound implications for the entire sector. As a national trust bank, Circle will be subject to direct oversight by the OCC, granting it an institutional legitimacy that few crypto players can claim. Concretely, this charter allows Circle to hold fiduciary deposits, offer digital asset custody services, and provide settlement and clearing services – all activities that were previously relegated to traditional banking partners. For USDC, this means that the reserves backing the stablecoin will now be held directly by a federally regulated banking entity, significantly enhancing transparency and investor confidence.
This decision is part of a broader movement of convergence between traditional finance and the crypto ecosystem. Several major financial institutions had already obtained partial banking charters or limited licenses in the United States to operate in the digital asset space. However, Circle is the first company native to the crypto industry – that is, a company whose primary business is the issuance and management of stablecoins – to obtain full national trust bank status. This precedent potentially opens the door for other stablecoin issuers like Paxos, which issues BUSD (though the latter has seen its volume significantly reduced after the 2023 regulatory interventions), or even players like Kraken and Coinbase, which have long been exploring the acquisition of banking licenses.
On the competitive front, this charter gives Circle a decisive advantage over its main rival, Tether (USDT). Where Tether operates from offshore jurisdictions with transparency often questioned by regulators and institutional investors, Circle now benefits from the most demanding seal of approval possible: that of the U.S. federal banking system. For institutional investors – pension funds, insurance companies, asset managers – who were still hesitant to gain exposure to stablecoins due to regulatory risks, this charter removes a major obstacle. It is now possible to envisage serious allocation to USDC in institutional portfolios, which could considerably increase demand for this stablecoin and strengthen its market position.
The impact of this announcement has already been felt in the markets. Bitcoin (BTC) was trading around $64,502 at the time of writing, while Ether (ETH) was trading around $1,801. USDC saw its market capitalization increase slightly in the hours following the announcement, a sign that investors welcome this news. More broadly, the entire cryptocurrency market reacted positively, with the general sentiment being that Circle integration into the federal banking system represents a major step toward the maturation of the industry and its acceptance by traditional financial institutions.
On the regulatory front, this OCC decision could have repercussions well beyond U.S. borders. European regulators, who are currently working toward full implementation of the MiCA regulation (Markets in Crypto-Assets), will likely see this as a confirmation of their approach aimed at strictly regulating stablecoins while allowing their integration into the traditional financial system. The United Kingdom,...
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