Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, received final approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to create a national trust bank that will operate under direct federal oversight. The new entity, Circle National Trust, will initially provide fiduciary digital asset custody for Circle and its affiliates and may later serve select institutional clients such as banks and other regulated financial firms. Circle said the trust bank will offer custody services under a charter that does not include consumer deposits or lending. The charter permits Circle to manage reserves backing USDC in the future, though the company says that capability is not yet active. Circle applied for the charter in June 2025 and received conditional approval six months later, with final approval granted on July 10, 2026. Circle's shares rose about 14% in pre‑market trading after the announcement. Other crypto firms, including Kraken, Crypto.com, BitGo, Ripple, Paxos and Fidelity Digital Assets, have also pursued or received OCC approvals for banking or custodial charters. BitGo's approval was upgraded to unconditional immediately after its initial conditional authorization. USDC is the second‑largest dollar‑pegged stablecoin with roughly $73.2 billion in circulation, while Tether's USDT leads with about $184.1 billion. The approval marks a step toward greater regulatory integration of digital assets into the U.S. financial system, even as the broader crypto market has recorded a third consecutive quarter of losses in Q2 2026.