USDC issuer Circe has received final approval from the United States Monetary Supervisory Authority (OCC) to establish a federally supervised National Trust Bank. This progress shows that the stabilizers are entering deeper into the regulated United States financial system and opening up space for the Circle follow-up USDC reserve arrangements.

Initial hosting operations

According to company disclosures, the new institution is called the Circle National Trust. In the early stages of operation, the institution will provide a trusted digital asset hosting service for Circle and its affiliates.

In accordance with approved business plans, follow-up services may also be extended to at least a large number of institutional clients, mainly banks and other regulated financial institutions. The National Trust Bank can provide hosting and fiduciary services, but cannot absorb retail deposits or extend loans as traditional commercial banks do.

paved the way for USDC reserve management

This approval also gives Circle a future opportunity to manage USDC's reserve assets under OCC supervision. According to the company, reserve management remains a follow-up capacity and is not an immediate operational start-up of the agency.

  • USDC currently in circulation of approximately $73.2 billion
  • USDT currently in circulation about $184.1 billion
  • Circe filed an application in June 2025

Circle ' s subsequent integration of reserve management into federal regulation means that the connection between the large dollar-stable currency and the United States traditional financial regulatory system will be further deepened and that transparency and compliance requirements will be increased in tandem.

More encryption companies apply for federal license plates.

The approval of Circle also reflects the fact that the encryption industry is expediting applications for federal bank licences and related licences. It was mentioned that companies such as Kraken were seeking similar qualifications and that the industry was moving towards a clearer regulatory framework.

According to publicly available information, Cripto.com has been licensed by OCC in February of this year to operate as a federally supervised, encrypted, custodial bank. Last December, Bitgo, Ripple, Paxos and Fidelity Digital Assets received similar conditional approvals.