Circle wins final OCC approval for national trust bank

Circle has received final approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish First National Digital Currency Bank, N.A., which will operate as Circle National Trust and be supervised directly by the OCC.

At launch, the national trust will offer fiduciary custody of digital assets for Circle and its affiliates. The bank's OCC-approved plan allows room to expand services later. Depending on demand, Circle National Trust may eventually offer custody directly to a limited number of institutional clients, with an initial focus on banks and other financial firms.

Management of the USDC Reserve will not be a launch function; Circle plans to add that capability after the bank opens. Under the terms of the earlier conditional approval, issuance of the USDC stablecoin is to be transferred to a New York limited-purpose trust company rather than carried out by the national trust bank at opening.

The charter bars the bank from accepting cash deposits or making loans but permits it to hold customer assets. The OCC will serve as the primary federal regulator for the trust bank.

Circle filed for the charter on June 30, 2025, and received conditional approval in December 2025. The final approval completes the OCC review process that a number of crypto-focused and traditional firms entered after Circle's filing; some applicants have secured conditional approvals, and a smaller set have obtained full OCC charters. Anchorage Digital Bank held the first national trust charter for a crypto firm in 2021.

Jeremy Allaire, Circle’s co-founder, chairman and chief executive, described federal oversight as “a new standard for transparency, governance and scale.”

Circle holds a New York BitLicense issued in 2015 and maintains regulatory registrations or licenses in the UK, Singapore and Bermuda. With the charter final, Circle National Trust will operate under federal bank supervision while initially focusing on custody services for the company and potential later service to selected institutional clients.