Circle, the firm behind the USDC stablecoin, is taking its next big step into regulated finance.
Fresh off a public listing that valued the company at nearly $18b, Circle has filed an application to become a national trust bank in the United States, Reuters reported Tuesday. However, unlike traditional banks, it would not be permitted to accept cash deposits or issue loans.
“We’re going from the early-adopter phase of this technology into the mainstream,” Allaire told Reuters. “As a public company, and now, hopefully if we are successful in getting approval from the OCC as a national trust, that will give us a foundation that the world’s leading institutions are going to be comfortable building on.”
Instead, the trust charter would let Circle manage the reserves backing its stablecoin, which include short-term US Treasury bills and cash, currently held at BNY Mellon and managed by BlackRock.
This focus aligns with broader trends, as financial institutions increasingly explore blockchain to modernize traditional markets. The timing of Circle’s move is significant. Earlier this month, the Senate passed a stablecoin bill that would require issuers to maintain full reserves and disclose them publicly each month.
Circle plans to focus on the custody of tokenized assets such as stocks and bonds on blockchain rails, rather than cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether.
