According to a Wednesday report by the Wall Street Journal, enterprise blockchain company Ripple has applied for a national banking license from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).
This means that Ripple will potentially be able to operate more like a traditional bank that will be subject to federal banking regulations.
"A unique benchmark"
The San Francisco-headquartered company launched its highly regulated Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin in December. According to the latest attestation report, the market cap of the stablecoin product currently stands at $440 million. Earlier today, 14 million RLUSD tokens were minted at the RLUSD Treasury.
Prior to its launch, the RLUSD stablecoin also received approval from the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). Now, it could potentially boast both state and federal oversight. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has stated that this would be a "unique" benchmark for the stablecoin product.
On top of that, Standard Custody, a Ripple subsidiary, applied for a Federal Reserve master account that would make it possible for he company to hold the reserves backing RLUSD directly with the Fed.
Joining mainstream finance
Ripple is the latest cryptocurrency firm to make such a move. In June, Circle, its key competitor, applied for a national trust bank charter with the OCC.
Cryptocurrency exchange giant Coinbase and payments company Paxos are also considering securing banking licenses.
For now, Anchorage Digital remains the only cryptocurrency firm that has managed to secure a national trust bank charter.
Vladislav Sopov
U.Today Editorial Team