Stablecoin infrastructure provider Bridge, which was acquired by payments giant, Stripe, has received conditional approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to organize a federally chartered national trust bank.
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The approval, granted in February 2026, marks a major regulatory milestone for the Stripe-owned platform and signals growing acceptance of digital dollars within the traditional banking framework. Once final approval is secured, Bridge would be able to offer a full suite of stablecoin and digital-asset services under direct federal oversight. These services include:
Custody of digital assets,
Stablecoin issuance and orchestration, and
Stablecoin reserve management
for businesses, fintechs, and financial institutions.
Bridge said its current compliance systems already align with the GENIUS Act, the stablecoin law signed in 2025, and that organizing as a national trust bank would give customers a robust regulatory foundation to build with stablecoins “confidently and at scale.”
The OCC has granted similar conditional approvals to five other crypto-aligned firms, including Circle and Ripple, underlining a broader push toward regulated stablecoin infrastructure in the United States.
PRESS RELEASE | Office of the Comptroller of the Currency Announces Conditional Approvals for Five National Trust Bank Charter Applications
Stripe’s Stablecoin Push and Global Reach
Stripe’s ownership of Bridge comes alongside its broader stablecoin strategy. In May 2025, Stripe launched stablecoin-based accounts that let clients in more than 100 countries send, receive, and hold US-dollar stablecoins including USDC (by Circle) and USDB (from Bridge) much like traditional bank accounts.
Importantly, this product is available to business users incorporated in multiple African countries such as Angola, Liberia, Tanzania, Uganda, Botswana, Senegal, Zambia, and many others listed here giving companies across the continent direct access to stablecoin financial accounts.
That offering, combined with its ownership of the African payment fintech, PayStack, and Bridge’s potential future status as a federally chartered bank in the U.S, could significantly boost the penetration of bridge stablecoins into Africa and other emerging markets. By lowering the barriers to holding and transacting with stable dollar-pegged assets, Stripe’s stablecoin ecosystem can help businesses and users in regions with volatile currencies or limited banking infrastructure access more stable digital value, streamline cross-border payments, and reduce reliance on costly traditional remittance systems.
STABLECOINS | Stripe-Owned Nigerian Fintech, PayStack, Introduces Stablecoins as a ‘Major Theme’ Over Its Next Decade
If Bridge completes the full OCC charter process, it would represent one of the most significant integrations of stablecoins into regulated financial rails potentially unlocking easier compliance, broader institutional adoption, and deeper infrastructure support for global stablecoin use cases, including in Africa.
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