Ripple, the digital asset firm closely associated with the XRP Ledger network, has applied on Wednesday for a national banking license at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), a spokesperson confirmed to CoinDesk.
The license would allow the company expand its crypto services and operate across state lines under federal regulation. Ripple issues the $440 million RLUSD stablecoin regulated by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), and also provides digital asset custody services.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the news earlier on Wednesday.
XRP
, the native cryptocurrency of the payments-focused XRP Ledger network, advanced 3% on the news.
Ripple’s application comes after USDC issuer firm Circle (CRCL) also filed for a similar license earlier this week, a sign that stablecoin companies are seeking federal oversight as U.S. legislation to regulate stablecoins and crypto market structure advances. The House of Representatives currently has the U.S. Senate’s stablecoin bill before it.
Crypto custodian Anchorage Digital already holds a federal charter.
“If approved, we would have both state (via NYDFS) and federal oversight, a new (and unique) benchmark for trust in the stablecoin market,” Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said in an X post.
Garlinghouse said the company also applied for a master account at the Federal Reserve earlier in the week via Standard Custody, the New York-based trust and custody firm Ripple acquired last year. Master accounts allow banks and depository institutions to directly access the Federal Reserve, rather than require them to go through intermediary banks.
If obtained, a Fed account would allow Ripple to store its stablecoin reserves such as U.S. Treasuries with the central bank and “provide an additional layer of security to future proof trust in RLUSD,” Garlinghouse said.
For long, crypto-focused firms such as Kraken and Caitlin Long’s Custodia Bank have tried without success to obtain accounts at the Fed.
UPDATE (July 2, 18:40 UTC): Adds comments from Brad Garlinghouse on bank charter and Fed master account application.
