Ripple Secures Federal Banking Charter as BNY and Robinhood Partnerships Expand Stablecoin Reach
Ripple Secures Federal Banking Charter as BNY and Robinhood Partnerships Expand Stablecoin Reach #
Digital asset infrastructure firm Ripple has received final approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to operate a national trust bank, completing a regulatory process that began more than a year ago.
The OCC granted its final charter to Ripple National Trust Bank (RNTB) on October 26, converting a conditional approval issued in December 2025 into a full operating license. Ripple was one of five digital asset companies to receive that initial conditional approval, alongside Circle, BitGo, Fidelity’s digital assets arm, and Paxos. It is now among the first in that group to reach full authorization.
RNTB will manage the segregated reserves backing Ripple USD (RLUSD) and act as collateral trustee on behalf of token holders. RLUSD issuance itself will remain with Standard Custody & Trust Company, Ripple’s limited-purpose trust company regulated by the New York Department of Financial Services. The new bank will also offer digital asset custody services to enterprise clients, adding a federally supervised product to Ripple’s existing payments and prime brokerage lines.
RLUSD launched in December 2024 and now has a market capitalization of approximately $2.5 billion. The Bank of New York Mellon was named primary reserve custodian for the stablecoin under a deal announced in July 2025, with Ripple committing to monthly independent third-party attestations of circulating supply and reserve assets. CEO Brad Garlinghouse disclosed the OCC approval ahead of Ripple’s annual Swell conference, describing it as proof that “crypto and banks work better together.”
In a separate announcement released around the same week, Ripple said it had signed a partnership agreement with Robinhood to expand RLUSD’s reach across institutional finance. Under the agreement, RLUSD will be used for institutional trade settlement and will power treasury automation through Ripple Treasury, which will manage Robinhood’s internal cash management, payments, and liquidity needs. The stablecoin is immediately available on Robinhood Chain and Bitstamp, the exchange Robinhood owns, with broader availability through Robinhood’s consumer application expected later this year. The deal also connects Ripple Prime clients to spot markets on Robinhood-affiliated exchanges and introduces margin financing across roughly 20 digital assets.
The charter approval and Robinhood partnership come as stablecoin legislation advances in Congress and federal regulators push crypto firms toward institutional compliance standards.
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