OCC Approves Bridge for Federal Trust Bank Charter Path

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has approved Bridge's application for a federal trust bank charter, with strings attached. The order, issued by the OCC, sets a $45 million minimum capital requirement and requires the company to pass preopening examinations before the bank can open its doors.

That distinction matters. The approval moves Bridge closer to a federal charter, but it does not mean the bank is operating. Two conditions remain outstanding between this decision and a functioning institution.

The requirements are concrete. Bridge must hold at least $45 million in capital, the minimum specified in the OCC's order. It must also clear the OCC's preopening checks, the supervisory review that precedes any new bank launch. Both steps are necessary before the trust bank begins business.

What does the approval actually grant?

A federal trust bank charter gives Bridge a path into the regulated banking perimeter at the federal level. But the OCC's decision addresses only that charter. It does not authorize stablecoin issuance.

That is the critical separation in this story. Bridge, the payments company acquired by Stripe, would still need separate issuer approval under the GENIUS Act before it can issue payment stablecoins. OCC approval for a trust bank does not provide that authorization. Two distinct statutory tracks now run in parallel for the company: one toward a bank charter, now advanced, and one toward stablecoin issuer status, untouched by this order.

For a company betting on dollar-backed digital payments, the sequencing is the whole game. The bank charter builds the regulated rails. Issuer approval under the GENIUS Act determines what can run on them.

Why the $45 million matters

The capital floor is the order's hardest number. It signals how the OCC is sizing the risk of a trust bank whose business model touches digital assets and payments infrastructure. Trust banks, unlike full-service commercial banks, operate under a narrower charter scope — typically fiduciary and custody activities rather than deposit-taking.

The preopening checks are the second gate. These examinations verify that the institution's systems, controls and governance meet supervisory standards before the first day of operation. Bridge cannot skip them, and the OCC cannot waive them.

What comes next?

The practical question: what does this change for Bridge's timeline? In the near term, not much publicly. The company must satisfy the capital requirement, complete preopening examinations, and separately pursue GENIUS Act issuer approval if it wants to issue stablecoins.

The order does, however, mark one of the clearer signals yet that federal banking regulators are willing to charter institutions built around digital-asset payment businesses. Bridge still has work to do between approval and operation — and the GENIUS Act approval window remains the decisive variable for its stablecoin ambitions.