Stripe’s Bridge Clears First Hurdle for Federal Bank Charter in Stablecoin Push

Stripe's Bridge Clears First Hurdle for Federal Bank Charter in Stablecoin Push

Bridge, the stablecoin infrastructure company Stripe acquired for $1.1 billion last October, has received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to organize a federally chartered national trust bank—the latest sign that crypto-payments firms are racing to secure traditional banking licenses rather than navigate the state-by-state regulatory maze.

The OCC's preliminary green light positions Bridge to offer custody of digital assets, stablecoin issuance and orchestration, and stablecoin reserve management under a federal framework. For CFOs watching the stablecoin space from a safe distance, this matters: Bridge is essentially betting that the path to mainstream corporate adoption runs through regulated banking infrastructure, not around it.

Bridge's move follows similar approvals granted to Circle and Ripple in December, suggesting a pattern. Fintech firms operating at the intersection of crypto and traditional payments are increasingly pursuing bank charters as a way to bypass the expensive, time-consuming process of securing money transmitter licenses in all 50 states. A federal charter offers a single regulatory relationship and, crucially, the word "bank" on the letterhead—something that still opens doors in corporate treasury departments.

The company says its existing compliance framework already positions it to be "Genius ready," though it's unclear what specific standard that refers to. What's clear is that the national trust bank charter will provide what Bridge calls "the regulatory backbone" customers need to build with stablecoins "confidently and at scale."

Here's the thing everyone's missing: Stripe didn't spend $1.1 billion on Bridge just to run a niche crypto service. The play is making dollar-denominated stablecoins boring enough for mainstream commerce—think cross-border B2B payments, not speculative trading. A federal bank charter is the regulatory equivalent of putting on a suit before the meeting. It signals to enterprises, fintechs, and traditional financial institutions that this isn't the Wild West anymore.

The timing is notable. Bridge's conditional approval comes as the Trump administration has shown renewed interest in crypto-friendly policy, with Trump-linked World Liberty Financial applying for its own bank charter in January. Whether this represents a genuine regulatory thaw or just a temporary window remains to be seen, but the OCC is clearly willing to entertain applications from crypto-adjacent firms that can demonstrate robust compliance frameworks.

For finance leaders, the question isn't whether stablecoins will eventually matter—it's whether the regulatory infrastructure will stabilize before the next crisis makes everyone skittish again. Bridge's conditional approval (the "conditional" part matters—full authorization still pending) suggests the OCC believes federally chartered institutions can manage stablecoin operations safely. That's a meaningful shift from the regulatory ambiguity that's defined this space for years.

The broader implication: if Stripe-backed Bridge, Circle, and Ripple all end up operating as federally chartered trust banks, stablecoins start looking less like crypto experiments and more like legitimate payment rails. That's when CFOs will need to have an actual opinion about them.