XRP rises 4% as Ripple files for US banking license

XRP is up 4% on Wednesday as Ripple filed to obtain a national banking license from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to custody its own reserves.

Ripple seeks US banking license, joins waitlist with Circle

Crypto payments firm Ripple has applied with the OCC to obtain a US national bank charter, CEO Brad Garlinghouse revealed in an X post on Wednesday. He shared that an approval would place the company under the oversight of both state and federal regulators, boosting trust in the RLUSD stablecoin. 

"True to our long-standing compliance roots, Ripple is applying for a national bank charter from the OCC," Garlinghouse wrote.

He also shared that Ripple applied for a Fed Master Account earlier in the week through its subsidiary Standard Custody. If approved, the company will be allowed to hold its RLUSD reserves directly with the Federal Reserve (Fed).

Ripple received approval from the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) in December, which permitted the company to issue RLUSD under the state's regulatory environment. 

Since its approval in December, RLUSD has failed to meet expectations. The stablecoin currently holds a market cap of $469 million and a daily trading volume of $37 million, according to CoinGecko data. This places it miles below major stablecoins like USDT and USDC, which boast market capitalizations of $157.8 billion and $61.6 billion, respectively.

Meanwhile, RLUSD will fall under OCC regulations if the agency grants Ripple a national bank charter. The move puts Ripple among a growing list of crypto companies that intend to establish a national trust bank.

Circle (CRCL) filed a similar application with the OCC on Monday to launch the First National Digital Currency Bank. The trust will be used to hold its USDC reserves but will be unable to accept traditional cash deposits or issue customer loans. 

Anchorage Digital is currently the only crypto firm with a charter from the OCC, which it received in 2021.

Meanwhile, tech billionaires Palmer Luckey, Joe Lonsdale, and Peter Thiel are planning to launch a new US bank called Erebor, aiming to serve startups and crypto-focused businesses, according to the Financial Times.

The group also allegedly applied for a national banking license for Erebor to replace Silicon Valley Bank, which collapsed in 2023.

XRP is changing hands at $2.26 at the time of publication, up 4% over the past 24 hours.