The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has granted final approval for Ripple National Trust Bank, expanding Ripple's federally regulated institutional services. The bank can oversee RLUSD reserves, act as a collateral trustee and provide fiduciary digital-asset custody. The approval does not, however, mean institutions will buy XRP in proportion to the assets Ripple manages. Ripple puts RLUSD's market capitalization at $2.5 billion.
Trust bank approval does not include ordinary deposits or lending
The OCC granted conditional approval in December 2025, then completed the final licensing process. The new bank will not offer conventional commercial banking services such as deposit accounts or loans. Instead, it will oversee segregated RLUSD reserves and act as collateral trustee for token holders.
RLUSD will continue to be issued by Ripple subsidiary Standard Custody & Trust Company, which is regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services. BNY remains the stablecoin's primary reserve custodian. The OCC's approval therefore adds a federal framework for Ripple's trust, reserve-management and custody activities without replacing the existing issuer or principal custodian.
Ripple Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty said the final approval reflects the company's decision to operate within a regulatory framework. CEO Brad Garlinghouse has described a national trust charter as a foundation for developing RLUSD and Ripple's payments, custody and capital-markets products.
Banking groups had challenged nonbank applications
The approval resolves one dispute over whether digital-asset firms should be allowed to establish federally chartered trust banks. In July 2025, the American Bankers Association and four other banking and credit-union groups urged the OCC to delay decisions on applications from Ripple and other digital-asset companies. They questioned whether the proposed activities qualified as traditional fiduciary services and argued that approval could depart from established banking practices.
The Independent Community Bankers of America later opposed Ripple's application directly, warning that nontraditional financial firms offering services resembling deposits without equivalent safeguards could affect financial stability. The OCC proceeded with conditional approval in December 2025 before completing the final review.
More institutional services do not guarantee proportional XRP demand
Ripple has also been expanding RLUSD custody and institutional trading services. On October 12, Standard Chartered said its Dubai International Financial Centre branch, regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority, would offer eligible clients institutional custody for RLUSD on the XRP Ledger. The bank also plans to work with Ripple and LMAX Group to make RLUSD available as trading collateral. Under the proposed arrangement, institutions could use RLUSD-backed collateral on LMAX's trading platform while Standard Chartered holds the underlying assets, reducing the need to move funds between counterparties. The integration remains subject to documentation, testing and applicable approvals.
On October 15, Ripple Prime expanded support for physically settled perpetual swaps, allowing institutional clients to trade products linked to equities, commodities and currencies around the clock. RLUSD may be used as collateral where local regulations permit.
XRP pays transaction fees on the XRP Ledger and can serve as a bridge asset for transfers between different currencies. Greater institutional settlement of RLUSD on the ledger could generate more XRP-related network activity, particularly if XRP is used as the bridge asset. But RLUSD also operates on Ethereum, where transactions do not require XRP. Even on the XRP Ledger, institutions can transfer RLUSD directly without first converting it to XRP, although XRP is still needed for network fees and account reserves.
Ripple can therefore grow its stablecoin, custody and trust businesses without institutions increasing their XRP holdings in proportion to the value of assets managed or transferred. XRP demand will depend on how institutions use the XRP Ledger and whether transactions actually use XRP as a bridge asset.