Bridge, the stablecoin infrastructure company acquired by payments giant Stripe, has applied for a national banking trust charter with the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), its co-founder Zach Abrams said on Wednesday.
The move would place the company under federal regulatory oversight if approved by the regulator. Through the bank, the company would provide services including custody, issuance of stablecoins and management of stablecoin reserves, Abrams said.
“We have long believed that stablecoins will be a regulated financial building block,” said Zach Abrams in a Tuesday X article. “This regulatory infrastructure will allow us to tokenize trillions of dollars and make this future possible.”
Bridge joins a frenzy of stablecoin issuers like Circle (CRCL), Ripple and Paxos seeking federal regulatory oversight similar to traditional financial companies as the stablecoin sector booms. Stablecoins, cryptocurrencies tied to fiat currency like the U.S. dollar, are a nearly $300 billion asset class and are becoming increasingly popular for cross-border payments. Growth was aided by the signing of the GENIUS Act, improving regulatory clarity for the sector in the United States.
Stripe earlier this month unveiled its Open Issuance service which helps businesses launch their own stablecoin using Bridge’s infrastructure. Phantom’s CASH crypto wallet, MetaMask’s mUSD, and Hyperliquid’s USDH stablecoins all rely on Bridge as their issuance partner. Stripe acquired Bridge for $1.1 billion last year, making it an integral part of the company’s growing ambition for blockchain-based payments.
