On February 17, 2026, Bridge, the stablecoin platform acquired by Stripe in 202,4 received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to become a federally chartered national bank, per The Block. Once finalized, the charter will enable Bridge to:
This positions Bridge to serve enterprises, fintechs, crypto businesses, and financial institutions through a regulated digital dollar framework, according to Bridge’s official statement.
Bridge follows several other crypto firms that received conditional OCC trust charters in December 2025:
Anchorage Digital Bank remains the only crypto firm to hold a full national trust charter (granted in 2021). The recent wave of approvals reflects a more crypto-friendly regulatory environment under the current administration.
Bridgemphasised its readiness to comply with the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act), which President Trump signed into law in 2025. Federal regulators are currently finalizing implementation rules for the legislation. The charter will provide Bridge’s customers with a clear federal regulatory backbone for building and scaling stablecoin products, per Bridge.
The approval strengthens Stripe’s position in the stablecoin and cross-border payments space, where it already leverages USDC for global transactions. It also signals continued convergence between traditional fintech and regulated crypto infrastructure. With USDmaintaining a g strong market share and growing institutional adoption, Bridge’s charter could accelerate enterprise-grade use cases for stablecoins. Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) prices remain stable amid the news, with BTC trading near $113,000 and ETH around $4,070 (as of February 18, 2026), per CoinMarketCap.
