- Bridge, owned by Stripe, receives conditional approval from the OCC for a national trust bank charter.
- The charter enables Bridge to offer digital asset custody, issue stablecoins, and manage reserves under federal oversight.
- Other crypto firms, including BitGo, Fidelity, Paxos, Circle, and Ripple, have secured similar conditional approvals.
- The American Bankers Association urges the OCC to slow approvals, citing unclear GENIUS Act rules.
On Tuesday, Bridge, a stablecoin platform owned by payments processor Stripe, announced it received conditional approval from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to organize a federally chartered national trust bank.
The company said this charter will allow it to offer custody of digital assets, issue stablecoins, and manage stablecoin reserves. “Our compliance framework already positions Bridge to be GENIUS ready,” Bridge stated.
According to OCC records, Bridge applied for the charter in October and received approval on Feb. 12. Stripe acquired the platform in 2025 as part of a $1.1 billion deal to support stablecoin payments.
Bridge is among several crypto-aligned companies seeking national trust bank charters from the OCC following the GENIUS Act. Consequently, the agency conditionally approved applications from BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, Paxos, Circle, and Ripple in December.
However, the American Bankers Association (ABA) urged the OCC to slow its approval of crypto companies for national trust bank charters. The banking group said rules under the GENIUS Act remain unclear and companies could bypass oversight.
Meanwhile, US policymakers are still considering how to handle stablecoin rewards. Addressing stablecoins within market structure bills could be a sticking point for lawmakers ahead of a Senate vote.
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