Following its IPO earlier this month at a valuation of approximately $18 billion, U.S.-based stablecoin company Circle has taken another important step. The company has begun the formal process of obtaining a national trust bank license by applying to the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).
If approved, Circle will be able to provide custody of its own reserves and hold crypto assets on behalf of institutional clients, but unlike traditional banks, the license does not grant it the authority to take cash deposits or make loans.
“Circle has long sought the highest levels of trust, transparency, governance and compliance. Becoming a public company was part of that vision. Becoming a national trust bank is a continuation of that,” Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire told Reuters.
If Circle obtains a national trust bank license, the new unit it will establish will be called First National Digital Currency Bank, N.A. Currently, Anchorage Digital is the only digital asset company in the U.S. with a national trust bank license. If Circle’s application is approved, it will be the second company in this field. The new bank will manage the majority of the reserves of the company’s USDC stablecoin, which will be backed by the U.S. dollar. However, Allaire noted that some reserves will continue to be held by major banks.
Additionally, Circle will be able to offer digital asset custody to institutional clients through this new structure. Allaire stated that this service will focus on traditional financial products such as stocks and bonds tokenized on the blockchain, and not cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum.
*This is not investment advice.
