BlockBeats news, on February 18, Bridge announced on Tuesday that it has received conditional approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish a national trust bank. This means Bridge National Trust Bank will be able to issue stablecoins, custody digital assets, and manage reserve assets under direct federal regulation.
This marks a key step in Stripe’s expansion into blockchain payments since its $1.1 billion acquisition of Bridge in 2024. Bridge stated that this approval establishes its ability to build digital dollar products for enterprises, fintech companies, crypto institutions, and traditional financial institutions within the federal framework.
Bridge states that its system complies with the regulatory standards established by the GENIUS Act, which was passed last year. Although the OCC, Federal Reserve, and FDIC have not yet finalized the implementing regulations for the Act, the related processes are underway.
Bridge is one of an increasing number of companies seeking to build stablecoin products within the federal regulatory framework. In December last year, Circle, Ripple, Paxos, Fidelity Digital Assets, and BitGo received similar conditional approvals from the OCC; Erebor Bank also obtained a conditional national bank charter last October. Bridge submitted its application in October last year, and OCC records show it was approved last week.
Currently, Bridge provides stablecoin issuance technology support for products such as Phantom’s CASH and MetaMask’s mUSD through Stripe’s Open Issuance platform.
OCC has not yet announced a final approval timeline.