Ripple has received final approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to open a national trust bank. The banking license covers the provision of reserves for the Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin, which has a market capitalization of $2.5 billion, but it does not provide any role for XRP.
XRP holders have found themselves in the least advantageous position compared to the direct beneficiaries of this decision. The token is trading at $1.31, having gained 1.11% over the past 24 hours. That is still 64% below the peak of $3.65 recorded in July 2025.
Ripple's bank license puts RLUSD first
Ripple National Trust Bank (RNTB) received preliminary approval in December of last year. On Monday, the company announced final clearance, after which the bank will be able to operate under OCC supervision. Ripple now stands alongside Circle, BitGo and Fidelity Digital Assets. Circle received final approval in July.
RNTB will take over the management of the U.S. dollar deposits, U.S. securities and their equivalents that back RLUSD. The bank will act as trustee of these reserves in the interests of token holders.
Once launched, the bank will be able to offer businesses digital asset custody services with fiduciary responsibility. Such banks can serve as qualified custodians for institutional clients.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse directly linked the license to the stablecoin launch.
"The national trust charter gives us an even stronger foundation for RLUSD and the institutional products we are building for payments, asset custody and capital markets," Garlinghouse said.
XRP in Ripple's banking plans
In January, the RLUSD stablecoin supply was approaching $1.38 billion when its volume hit a record. It now stands at about $2.57 billion — an increase of 86%. Over the same period, the XRP price fell from roughly $2.08 to $1.31, i.e. by 37%.
Most of RLUSD circulates outside its own XRP network. About 61% of the supply is on the Ethereum network and 39% is on the XRP Ledger (XRPL).
Each transaction on XRPL burns a small fee in XRP, while transfers on Ethereum are paid in Ethereum (ETH). Therefore, RLUSD activity on the Ethereum network does not increase the volume of XRP burned, and XRPL fees are too small to affect the token's supply.
The situation could change if RNTB's asset custody department begins servicing institutional XRP holdings. In addition, if more RLUSD appears specifically on XRPL, the growth of the stablecoin's supply will become more closely tied to the XRP price.
For XRP holders, the key question is which assets RNTB will decide to custody after the service launches.
Cryptalist analysis: The OCC approval strengthens Ripple's infrastructure position, but the benefits are distributed in favor of RLUSD and the institutional custody business rather than the XRP token. As long as the bulk of the stablecoin's issuance circulates on Ethereum and XRPL fees are negligible, the direct link between RLUSD growth and XRP's value remains weak. Changing this dynamic requires an inflow of institutional XRP reserves into RNTB or a significant shift of RLUSD issuance to the XRP Ledger — until then, the market will value XRP along a separate trajectory.