Stripe’s stablecoin biz seeks national bank trust charter

Bridge, Stripe’s stablecoin unit, has applied to the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a national trust bank charter.

The move was announced by co-founder Zach Abrams on X. 

Abrams said that the charter would enable Bridge to manage reserves, provide custody and other functions. The post cited the GENIUS Act, a legal framework for stablecoins that was signed into law in July.

“We’ve long believed stablecoins will be a core, regulated financial building block. This regulatory infrastructure will enable us to tokenize trillions of dollars and make this future possible,” Abrams wrote.

The OCC charter, if approved, would place Bridge in a similar regulatory category to Paxos and Anchorage Digital, both of which hold charters. These charters permit companies to engage in digital asset custody and token issuance under federal banking supervision rather than state-by-state licensing.

Stripe’s acquisition of Bridge marked a major strategic step for the payments firm into stablecoins. The transaction, announced last year, was completed in February. 

The latest move suggests a deeper integration of stablecoins into mainstream financial rails. Stripe announced new stablecoin-powered money management tools in May.

The OCC has not publicly commented on the filing. Bridge’s application remains pending, with review timelines typically spanning several months.

This is a developing story.

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This article was generated with the assistance of AI and reviewed by editor Michael McSweeney before publication.

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