Bridge, the stablecoin infrastructure company acquired by fintech giant Stripe, is applying for a national bank trust charter through the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, one of the major federal banking regulators. If approved, Bridge would be able to operate under a unified federal framework consistent with the GENIUS Act, the stablecoin legislation signed into law this summer, co-founder Zach Abrams said on Wednesday. In particular, Bridge would be able to provide regulated stablecoin issuance, management, and custody services.
“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 on X. Stripe first signaled it would apply for OCC oversight two weeks ago. Bridge is joining stablecoin issuers like Circle (ticker CRCL), Paxos, and Ripple in seeking federal oversight. Anchorage Digital is currently the only crypto-native firm with a federal banking charter since receiving OCC approval in 2021.
Stripe has moved quickly to develop its stablecoin unit, including by incorporating stablecoins into its core business, since its blockbuster $1.1 billion acquisition of Bridge last year. For instance, in June, Stripe partnered with Coinbase and Shopify to make it easier for merchants to accept payments made in Circle’s USDC stablecoin.
Months later, the company unveiled its Open Issuance platform to assist companies in launching bespoke stablecoins using Bridge’s infrastructure, while a planned Layer 1 blockchain, Tempo, will be optimized for payments. Moreover, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that Stripe is rolling out “subscription” payments using stablecoins.
