Ripple has taken the formal step by coordinating its mission to expand its financial infrastructure and releasing Volume 1 of its Interagency Charter Application, submitted to the Office of the Secretary of Currency (OCC).
The analysis of the document outlines the proposal to establish a Ripple National Trust Bank. The bank is expected to become a limited national trust bank, operating as a subsidiary of New York-based Ripple Labs. Ripple is gaining popularity through its native digital asset XRP, but the application focuses more on using native Stablecoin RLUSD.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse publicly confirmed the company’s application for the National Trust Bank Charter to the OCC on July 2nd. In his statement, the company’s goal was to create a structure that would bring RLUSD Stablecoin under both federal and state surveillance. According to Garlinghouse, the move is expected to establish a “new unique benchmark for trust in the Stablecoin market.”
Ripple releases volume 1 for OCC applications
According to the filing, Ripple has not applied for a traditional banking license. This includes the acquisition of deposit or lending activities. Instead, banks are expected to handle trustee activities and can provide custody and infrastructure services in line with OCC supervision. Furthermore, trust banks are not expected to fall under the Community Reinvestment Act, which applies only to institutions engaged in deposits or lending.
The application points out that “As a National Trust Bank, Trust Banks are not subject to CRAs.” This places banks within a business-to-business (B2B) framework that focuses on custody, tokenization infrastructure, and stubcoin management rather than retail banking. The application also does not explicitly mention XRP, and cipher commentators point out that separating both entities could be a deliberate act.
By removing XRP, this move ensures that entanglement is avoided, taking into account that XRP has been subject to legal scrutiny in the past. However, this does not rule out future XRP integrations, but I have not seen what will happen. Meanwhile, another dimension of filing shares its relationship with ripple and the internal structure of compensation plans.
This applies to the confidential equity benefits plan included in the unpublished exhibition, revealing that the company intends to issue personal stocks to executives and insiders. While this practice is not uncommon, the comment stated that confidentiality represents a broader corporate strategy.
A five-person governance panel demonstrates commitment to surveillance
Trust Bank’s operational and governance structure also shows Ripple’s commitment to experienced monitoring. The list consists of organizers such as John McDonald, the experienced financial executive and president of Standard Custody & Trust Company, and John Zavaglia, the treasurer of Ripple.
This list also includes Ripple’s Chief Justice Officer, Stuart Aldeoty. Aldeloty boasts over 35 years of experience in regulatory and legal leadership across a variety of financial institutions. Timothy Keaney, former vice-president of BNY Mellon, and David Puth, former CEO of CLS Group and Centre Consortium, are also on the list.