Ripple Inches Toward Becoming a US Bank as Regulators Approve Crypto Intermediaries - XRP News
Regulators just handed Ripple the keys to the kingdom—or at least the vault.
The approval of crypto intermediaries marks a seismic shift, not just for Ripple but for the entire digital asset landscape. This isn't about another partnership; it's about structural power. By greenlighting these entities, watchdogs are effectively building the on-ramps for traditional finance to merge with blockchain highways.
Ripple's Path to the Core
Forget operating on the fringes. This move positions Ripple—and by extension, XRP—at the very heart of the payment system. The company isn't just offering a faster wire transfer anymore; it's being woven into the fabric of institutional settlement. The intermediaries act as sanctioned bridges, allowing value to flow between the old world of ledgers and the new world of distributed ones with regulatory blessing.
What This Means for the Market
Liquidity follows legitimacy. This approval cuts through years of regulatory fog, providing a clear blueprint for how major crypto players can integrate with the existing financial infrastructure. It bypasses the need for every bank to become a blockchain expert overnight. Instead, they can plug into these approved channels, potentially unleashing a wave of institutional capital that's been waiting on the sidelines for a safe passage.
The approval signals a pragmatic, if not outright bullish, stance from regulators tired of playing whack-a-mole with decentralized protocols. They're choosing to regulate the chokepoints—and Ripple is now positioned as one of the primary gatekeepers. A cynical take? Wall Street loves a regulated monopoly more than it fears disruption, and this setup might just give them both.
The door to becoming a de facto digital bank is now cracked open. The next step is seeing who—or what—walks through.
The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has issued new guidance that could reshape how traditional finance interacts with digital assets. The regulator said banks can now act as intermediaries for crypto transactions through “riskless principal” activities. This means a bank can temporarily buy a crypto asset and then sell it to a customer without taking market risk.
The timing is important. Earlier this week, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission also launched a pilot program that allows bitcoin, stablecoins and other digital assets to be used as collateral in derivatives markets. Together, these moves could mean a more open stance from Washington toward regulated crypto activity.
Ripple may be one of the biggest beneficiaries of this shift. In July, CEO Brad Garlinghouse confirmed that Ripple has applied for a national bank charter from the OCC. If approved, Ripple would sit under both state oversight from the NYDFS and federal oversight from the OCC. This would make Ripple one of the first companies in the stablecoin space to operate with full US banking permissions.
Garlinghouse also revealed that Ripple applied for a Federal Reserve Master Account through Standard Custody. This would allow Ripple to hold RLUSD reserves directly at the Federal Reserve. Direct Fed access is rare and would give Ripple a stronger foundation for operating RLUSD as a regulated, institution-ready stablecoin.
REMINDER: @Ripple is set to become a fully licensed bank in the United States of America!
#XRP IS A DONE DEALhttps://t.co/o8D2wvI1NY pic.twitter.com/LCiAJDTyun
Ripple says its focus is on building “trusted, battle-tested and secure infrastructure.” With the stablecoin market now above $250 billion, the company argues that RLUSD can stand out by putting regulation at the center of its design.
If Ripple secures a national bank charter, it WOULD be allowed to custody digital assets, offer lending services and gain direct access to Fed systems. That includes FedNow, the US instant payments network. This could increase the number of payment and settlement use cases that tie back to XRP, especially in cross-border flows.
The charter could also give Ripple access to the Federal Reserve’s discount window during liquidity stress, a privilege normally reserved for banks. This would make Ripple one of the most tightly regulated players in the digital asset market.
In a second development, the CFTC has cleaned up its cross-border swap rules. The updated framework reduces uncertainty for institutions that want to settle trades using digital assets. This is a direct boost for Ripple, whose model is built around compliant cross-border settlement.
Cleaner rules, combined with more crypto-friendly banking guidance, lower the barriers for banks to adopt RLUSD and explore XRP-powered settlement in a regulated environment.
Is Ripple on the verge of becoming one of America’s first crypto-native banks? The regulatory pieces are moving into place.
