Ripple received final approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to open a national trust bank, a charter that manages reserves for its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin but assigns no role to XRP. The company confirmed the final sign-off in a release on Monday, October 26, 2026, allowing the entity, named Ripple National Trust Bank (RNTB), to begin operating under federal supervision.
The charter specifically covers the dollar deposits, U.S. government securities, and cash equivalents that back RLUSD. RNTB will act as trustee over these reserves on behalf of RLUSD holders. The bank previously won conditional approval in December of the previous year. With this final approval, Ripple joins Circle, BitGo, and Fidelity Digital Assets as entities holding similar national trust charters. Circle secured its own final approval from the OCC in July.
Reserve Management and Custody
Once operational, RNTB will manage the assets backing the stablecoin and offer fiduciary digital asset custody to enterprises. Law firm Davis Wright Tremaine notes that such banks may serve as qualified custodians for institutional clients in certain cases. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated that the national trust charter provides a stronger foundation for RLUSD and the institutional products the company is developing across payments, custody, and capital markets.
Garlinghouse highlighted the approval as a key development heading into the Ripple Swell event, describing the new platform as a federally supervised structure to support RLUSD and provide digital asset custody to enterprises. He emphasized the company’s long-standing position that crypto and banking function better together.
XRP Market Position
While the charter focuses on RLUSD, XRP holders do not receive direct benefits from the bank’s reserve management functions. XRP traded at $1.31 at the time of the announcement, up 1.11% in the preceding 24 hours. This price remains approximately 64% below the token’s peak of $3.65 recorded in July 2025.
Data from DefiLlama indicates that RLUSD supply has grown significantly since January, when it stood near $1.38 billion. Current supply is approximately $2.57 billion, representing an 86% increase. Over this same period, XRP’s price declined from roughly $2.08 to $1.31, a drop of 37%. The divergence highlights that RLUSD growth has not directly correlated with XRP price performance during this timeframe.
Network distribution further separates the stablecoin from XRP utility. Approximately 61% of RLUSD supply circulates on the Ethereum network, while 39% circulates on the XRP Ledger (XRPL). Transactions on the XRPL burn a small amount of XRP as a fee, whereas Ethereum transfers pay fees in ETH. Consequently, RLUSD activity on Ethereum contributes nothing to XRP burns, and the fees on the XRPL are too small to meaningfully affect XRP supply. A shift in RLUSD issuance toward the XRPL or the adoption of institutional XRP custody by RNTB could change this dynamic, but no such shift has been confirmed.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the Ripple National Trust Bank charter cover?
The charter allows Ripple to manage the dollar deposits, U.S. government securities, and cash equivalents backing the RLUSD stablecoin. It also enables the bank to offer fiduciary digital asset custody to enterprises.
Does the new bank charter assign a role to XRP?
No, the bank charter assigns no role to XRP. It specifically covers the reserves behind the RLUSD stablecoin, and XRP is not part of the reserve management structure.
