Ripple gets the green light: crypto company can become a bank

Crypto company Ripple has achieved a major victory in the United States. The company behind XRP, among others, has received final approval to set up its own bank that is supervised by the US government.

With this, Ripple is taking a big step towards the traditional financial world. Especially for his own digital dollar, RLUSD, the license can have major consequences.

The US regulator Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has given final approval for the establishment of Ripple National Trust Bank (RNTB). Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse announced this on Monday.

Ripple applied for the license in July 2025. A preliminary approval followed in December, but the company still had to meet additional conditions. According to Ripple, that process is now complete.

It is an important step for the crypto company, which has been trying for years to build a bridge between the crypto world and traditional banks. With the license, Ripple is allowed to establish a specialized bank that is under direct federal supervision.

This does not mean that Ripple will become a regular bank where consumers can open a payment account or take out a mortgage. The permit is intended for a so-called trust bank, which focuses on managing and storing financial assets.

Garlinghouse sees the approval as a confirmation of the course that Ripple has been following for years. According to him, banks and crypto companies can strengthen each other. The new license should help Ripple to further expand financial services to large companies and institutions.

The new bank will focus on Ripple USD (RLUSD), the company's stablecoin. That is a crypto coin that is designed to maintain a value of one US dollar.

To support that value, Ripple holds reserves in, among other things, US dollars, US government bonds and other readily available financial resources.

Ripple National Trust Bank receives permission to manage these reserves and to supervise the assets that support the stablecoin on behalf of RLUSD holders.

In addition, the bank may store digital assets for large corporate customers. Think of financial institutions that use crypto coins for international payments, trading or the management of their reserves.

For the time being, the issuance of RLUSD will remain in the hands of Standard Custody & Trust Company, a subsidiary of Ripple that is supervised by the financial authorities in New York.

There is now an additional supervisor. The American OCC will supervise the activities of the new trust bank. Ripple thus combines state-level supervision with federal supervision of various parts of its stablecoin activities.

This should be particularly attractive for large financial institutions, which attach great importance to clear rules and supervision when using crypto coins.

The approval comes at a time when RLUSD is growing rapidly. Ripple launched the stablecoin in December 2024. Meanwhile, the digital currency has a total market value of about 2.5 billion dollars.

RLUSD is used, among other things, within Ripple's international payment network and as collateral with Ripple Prime, the company's service for professional investors.

The US bank BNY currently holds most of the reserves behind RLUSD. Ripple also publishes monthly independent statements on the amount of stablecoins in circulation and the assets that stand against them.

In addition to RLUSD, XRP remains an important part of Ripple's business. Among other things, the company uses the crypto currency to enable international payments between different currencies.

The banking license does not mean that XRP itself becomes a banking product or that the cryptocurrency is automatically subject to the same rules as RLUSD. The approval relates to the specific activities of Ripple National Trust Bank.

Ripple wants to work closely with the OCC and regulators in New York in the coming period to make the new bank operational.

The GENIUS Act also plays a role in this. This US law lays down rules for stablecoins linked to the dollar. With the new banking license, Ripple wants to strengthen its position as more and more traditional financial institutions explore digital currency and crypto services.