TechFlow News, February 18: According to CoinDesk, Bridge, Stripe’s stablecoin infrastructure company, announced on Tuesday that it has received conditional approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish a national trust bank. This charter will allow Bridge National Trust Bank to issue stablecoins, custody digital assets, and manage reserves under the federal regulatory framework.
Bridge stated that its systems already comply with the regulatory standards set forth in the GENIUS Act, which was passed last year and aims to establish a unified regulatory framework for stablecoin issuers—though the OCC, the Federal Reserve, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation have yet to finalize specific implementing rules. Bridge submitted its charter application in October last year, and the OCC completed its review last week.
Earlier, Circle, Ripple, Paxos, Fidelity Digital Assets, and BitGo all received similar conditional approvals from the OCC in December last year. Bridge was acquired by Stripe in 2024 for $1.1 billion and currently provides stablecoin issuance services—including for Phantom’s CASH and MetaMask’s mUSD—via Stripe’s Open Issuance platform. The OCC has not yet disclosed a timeline for final approval.
