On Monday, stablecoin payments infrastructure provider Rain submitted an application to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish Rain National Trust Bank, a national trust bank headquartered in New York.

Planned Services and Issuance of Dollar Stablecoins

If the charter is approved, the bank will be able to provide fiduciary services for the custody of digital assets and US dollars for institutional clients, manage reserves for authorized stablecoin issuers, and issue or redeem dollar-backed stablecoins in accordance with the GENIUS Act. The proposed bank’s president and CEO, pending OCC review, will be Brandon Soto, former CFO of Square Financial Services. According to Rain CEO and co-founder Farouq Malik, institutions building on Rain’s platform want to hold assets with a fiduciary accountable to a federal regulator.

Queue of Applications Grows: Modern Treasury Also Applies to OCC

On the same day, fintech company Modern Treasury announced it had applied for approval to offer digital asset custody and related fiat services as a national trust bank.

ICBA Challenges OCC Rules in Court

On Friday, the Independent Community Bankers of America filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of Columbia against the OCC and Comptroller Jonathan Gould, stating that the regulator exceeded its authority by allowing non-depository trust banks to conduct extensive non-fiduciary activities. The ICBA seeks to overturn the OCC’s March 2026 chartering rule and Interpretive Letter 1176 (2021), and to prohibit further approvals based on them. The complaint argues that this regime gives trust banks a competitive advantage and may mislead consumers about federal insurance. According to the complaint, the OCC has approved or conditionally approved at least 21 trust banks, with no fewer than 13 being crypto companies. On Monday, the Crypto Council for Innovation called the lawsuit an attempt to stifle innovation.