Circle Internet Group NYSE:CRCL, the issuer of USDC, the world's largest regulated stablecoin, rose 11.13% in premarket after the company received final approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish a national trust bank. The entity, First National Digital Currency Bank, N.A., will operate as Circle National Trust and conduct digital asset custody services under direct federal oversight. Circle submitted its OCC application in June 2025 and received conditional approval in December before today's final clearance.
Circle National Trust will initially provide fiduciary digital asset custody for Circle and its affiliates. Under its OCC-approved business plan, the bank may later expand to offer custody services to a limited number of institutional customers, with a focus on banks and regulated derivatives organizations. Future capabilities include management of the USDC reserve, which would bring those operations under the OCC's supervisory framework.
The approval brings Circle's digital asset operations into the same federal regulatory framework that governs national trust banks, a milestone Circle described as the first of its kind for a stablecoin issuer operating at this scale.