Ripple Labs (XRP) has applied to the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to become a national bank.
A report in the Wall Street Journal says the company made its application on Wednesday and wants to join the rush of crypto platforms that are entering mainstream finance.
If Ripple gets a national trust bank charter, the OCC would also be able to regulate its RLUSD stablecoin. Ripple might also consider selling other crypto services through its banking license if approved.
Jack McDonald, senior vice president of stablecoins at Ripple, said, “that regulation would have set a new bar for transparency and compliance in the stablecoin market.”
Anchorage Digital, a crypto custodian, is the only company in the country that is currently licensed as a government bank. Circle, the company making USDC stablecoins, has recently applied for a national bank charter.
Its market cap is much smaller than those two, but Ripple has become very famous in the crypto world in the last two years, partly because of its well-known case against the SEC.
The WSJ also reported that on Monday, Standard Custody & Trust Company, a Ripple company, applied for a Federal Reserve master account.
If the account is approved, Ripple could store its funds directly with the Federal Reserve and send and receive stablecoins when banks aren’t open.
Ripple’s XRP coin went up on Wednesday after the platform applied for a US banking license. It’s been up almost 4% in the last 24 hours.
