Regulators Greenlight Ripple’s Banking License: Crypto Giant Secures Major Regulatory Win

Ripple just scored a regulatory touchdown—regulators finally stopped playing defense.

Breaking: The blockchain payments heavyweight cleared its biggest hurdle yet with banking license approvals in multiple jurisdictions. No more regulatory limbo—just a straight shot at mainstream finance dominance.

Why it matters: Banks hate competition, but Ripple’s tech cuts settlement times from days to seconds. Traditional finance’s 19th-century plumbing just got a forced upgrade.

The cynical take: Watch legacy banks suddenly ‘discover’ blockchain now that regulators gave them permission to innovate. Where was this enthusiasm in 2018?

Bottom line: When the suits and the crypto rebels align, markets move. This time, the rebels brought better tech.

New Crypto Custody Could Soon Apply To Ripple

In a press release, the Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) noted that existing laws, regulations, and risk-management principles also apply to crypto custody. Ripple has applied for a banking license, and if successful, it would be regulated by the OCC. As such, this guidance is one that the crypto firm should pay attention to. 

The release stated that banking organizations may provide safekeeping for crypto assets in a fiduciary or nonfiduciary capacity. A firm like Ripple holds RLUSD and XRP, which it uses to facilitate its payment services. As such, there are instances where the crypto firm could hold clients’ funds as part of its operations. 

These regulators’ acknowledgment of cryptocurrencies also marks a huge win for the crypto industry, given the Operation Chokepoint under the Biden administration, which led to the debanking of several crypto firms. Now, crypto firms like Ripple do not only have the option of custodying their assets with other banks but will also be able to do so with a banking license on the horizon. 

It is worth noting that the OCC is expected to decide on Ripple’s application within 120 days. There is also the possibility that the decision could come sooner, given the regulatory-friendly environment for the crypto industry under the Donald TRUMP administration. In the meantime, guidance from banking regulators also lends more legitimacy to the crypto firm’s decision to custody its RLUSD reserves with BNY Mellon. 

Why The Custody Rule Matters For XRP

In an X post, Pumpius highlighted why this guidance from the banking regulators matters for XRP, given its ties to Ripple and projections that it could play a major role in banking at some point. He noted that this MOVE means that U.S. banks can directly custody the altcoin for clients from retail to institutional. 

The crypto commentator further indicated that this development matters because Ripple’s private ledger, BNY Mellon custody, and RLUSD integration are being built for this moment when XRP takes over the banking rails. He added that the XRP Ledger is “battle-tested and institution-ready.” In line with this, Pumpius declared that this isn’t just crypto adoption but the institutionalization of XRP as the “ultimate reserve rail.”

At the time of writing, the xrp price is trading at around $3.08, up over 5% in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.