Who Gains From Ripple’s New Bank Charter? XRP Holders May Be Last in Line

Ripple won final approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to open a national trust bank. The bank charter covers reserves behind its $2.5 billion Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin but assigns XRP no role.

XRP holders sit furthest from the charter’s direct benefits. The token trades at $1.31 on BeInCrypto Markets, up 1.11% in 24 hours. That still leaves it about 64% below its $3.65 peak from July 2025.

Ripple’s Bank Charter Puts RLUSD Holders First in Line

Ripple National Trust Bank (RNTB) first won conditional approval last December. Monday’s final sign-off, confirmed in a company release, lets the bank begin operating under OCC supervision. Journalist Eleanor Terrett noted on X that Ripple now joins Circle, BitGo, and Fidelity Digital Assets. Circle secured its own final approval in July.

RNTB will manage the dollar deposits, US government securities, and cash equivalents backing RLUSD. It will also act as trustee over those reserves on behalf of the token’s holders.

Once open, the bank can offer fiduciary digital asset custody to enterprises. Law firm Davis Wright Tremaine says such banks may, in some cases, serve as qualified custodians for institutional clients.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse tied the charter directly to the stablecoin.

“A national trust charter gives us an even stronger foundation for RLUSD and the institutional products we’re building across payments, custody and capital markets,” Garlinghouse said.

Big news heading into @RippleSwell: the @USOCC has granted final approval for Ripple National Trust Bank.This gives Ripple a federally supervised platform to support $RLUSD and provide digital asset custody to enterprises.We’ve always said crypto and banks work better…

— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) October 26, 2026

Where Does XRP Fit in Ripple’s Banking Push?

RLUSD supply stood near $1.38 billion in January, when the stablecoin hit a record. DefiLlama now puts it at about $2.57 billion, an 86% rise. Over the same period, XRP fell from roughly $2.08 to $1.31, a 37% drop.

Most RLUSD also circulates outside XRP’s own network. DefiLlama data shows about 61% of supply on Ethereum and 39% on the XRP Ledger (XRPL).

Each XRPL transaction burns a small XRP fee, while Ethereum transfers pay fees in Ethereum (ETH). As a result, RLUSD activity on Ethereum adds nothing to XRP burns, and XRPL fees are too small to move supply meaningfully

That read could change if RNTB’s custody arm takes on institutional XRP holdings. A shift in RLUSD issuance toward the XRPL would also tie the stablecoin’s growth more closely to the token.

For XRP holders, the open question is what RNTB chooses to custody once it opens. Until that becomes clear, the XRP price outlook depends less on the charter than on the broader market direction.

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