Stripe-owned Bridge has preliminary conditional approval from the OCC to set up a national trust bank for dollar stablecoins. The order requires $45 million in minimum capital and preopening checks. A bank charter does not replace separate approval under the GENIUS Act.
Stripe-owned Bridge received preliminary conditional approval on Feb. 12, 2026, to establish a national trust bank. The bank would issue dollar stablecoins, hold digital assets and manage stablecoin reserves under federal supervision.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's decision authorizes organization of Bridge National Trust Bank in New York, not the start of banking operations. Final authorization depends on satisfying preopening requirements.
What the proposed trust bank would do
The order describes Bridge Building Inc., Bridge's existing subsidiary, as a state-licensed money transmitter that issues USDB and white-label variants and provides custody and orchestration services. The proposed bank would become the primary issuer of Bridge's white-label stablecoins and provide digital-asset custody subject to fiduciary duties.
It would also manage reserves for affiliated and unaffiliated stablecoin issuers and act as trustee for their stablecoin holders. However, the bank would not be FDIC-insured.
The order requires at least $45 million in tier 1 capital and a separate pool of eligible liquid assets covering 180 days of operating expenses during the bank's first three years. Before opening, the bank must establish anti-money-laundering and sanctions-compliance policies, obtain the OCC's non-objection to its final technology architecture and request a preopening examination at least 60 days before its planned opening.
GENIUS Act approval is a separate step
A trust bank charter is not, by itself, GENIUS Act approval to issue payment stablecoins. The law defines a federal qualified issuer to include an uninsured national bank that is both chartered by the OCC and approved under the law's issuer-application process.
The OCC's Oct. 21 guidance says issuers generally need permitted-issuer approval to issue payment stablecoins in the United States beginning Jan. 18, 2027. Existing issuers with substantially complete applications pending by that date can request waivers lasting up to 12 months, and an application alone does not grant a waiver.
Meanwhile, the OCC is not yet accepting issuer applications or waiver requests, pending Office of Management and Budget approval of the application forms.
Source: The Defiant
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