Bridge has received conditional approval from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to organise a federally chartered national trust bank.
Following this announcement, Bridge has received conditional approval from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to organise a federally chartered national trust bank, a step that would place its stablecoin operations under direct federal supervision.
The approval remains subject to final OCC sign-off and compliance with applicable regulatory requirements. Once fully authorised, Bridge would operate under the name Bridge National Trust Bank and would be permitted to offer digital asset custody, stablecoin issuance and orchestration, as well as stablecoin reserve management to business clients.
Federal framework for stablecoin services
According to the official press release, under a national trust bank charter, Bridge would operate under a single federal licence, removing the need to secure separate state-level money transmitter authorisations across the US. The company states that its compliance framework is already aligned with the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, the federal stablecoin legislation that created regulatory guardrails for digital dollar issuance. Bridge has indicated that achieving the charter would provide its customers with the regulatory foundation needed to build stablecoin-based products at scale.
The company positions stablecoins as infrastructure for a range of use cases beyond payments, including global settlement, treasury management, cross-border transactions, and tokenised asset markets. The charter is intended to support enterprises, fintechs, crypto businesses, and financial institutions seeking to deploy digital dollar products within a defined federal compliance structure.
Bridge's application was filed with the OCC in October 2025. The OCC has not published a timeline for granting final approval to the applicant.
Industry context and opposition
The wave of conditional approvals reflects a broader shift among digital asset firms towards federal oversight, rather than operating under a fragmented state licensing regime. However, the trend has attracted criticism from traditional banking groups. The Bank Policy Institute raised concerns in October 2025 that digital asset firms applying for the trust charter were not intending to operate genuine trust companies, and argued that approval could introduce untested risks to the US financial system. The American Bankers Association has also noted that key regulatory provisions under the GENIUS Act remain unclear for newly chartered entities.
The OCC has characterised the recent uptick in charter applications as consistent with historical norms. Final approval will require Bridge to satisfy all outstanding OCC conditions before commencing operations under the federal charter.
