The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has granted conditional approvals to two banks pursuing different approaches to dollar-based digital assets, marking another step toward the integration of tokenized deposits and stablecoins into the regulated banking system. The OCC, a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department, charters and supervises national banks, and its interpretive letters and charter decisions have become a key channel through which federal policy on bank digital-asset activity takes shape.

The OCC issued two conditional national bank charter letters on Sept. 2, covering OpenReserve Bank in Salt Lake City and Revolut Bank US. The approvals address separate business models: OpenReserve Bank plans to offer tokenized deposit capabilities and issue stablecoins through a wholly owned subsidiary, while Revolut Bank US has received permission to distribute Revolut-branded stablecoins issued and managed by a third party.

OpenReserve Bank received conditional approval for tokenized deposit activities and a wholly owned stablecoin-issuing subsidiary, creating a regulated banking structure for offering both tokenized deposits and dollar-backed digital assets. The approvals came after OpenReserve Bank submitted its application on April 13. Under the bank's proposed structure, the subsidiary would issue stablecoins, while the parent bank would pursue tokenization capabilities involving deposits.

Revolut Takes a Third-Party Stablecoin Route

Revolut Bank US received separate conditional clearance under a model that does not make the bank the issuer of its branded stablecoins. Instead, the bank would distribute stablecoins carrying the Revolut brand while relying on a third party for issuance and reserve management. Revolut is one of Europe's largest fintech and neobank platforms, and its entry into U.S. bank-adjacent stablecoin distribution reflects growing interest among major payment and fintech firms in dollar-denominated digital assets.

The arrangement differs from OpenReserve Bank's planned vertically integrated structure. Rather than establishing an in-house issuing subsidiary, Revolut Bank US would use an external entity to handle the core functions associated with creating the stablecoin and managing its underlying reserves.

The two approvals therefore illustrate how regulated banks can pursue digital-asset strategies without necessarily following the same operational model. One approach places issuance within a bank-owned subsidiary, while the other separates branding and distribution from the functions of issuance and reserve administration.

OCC Conditions Must Be Met Before Launch

Although the OCC has issued the approvals, neither institution has received unconditional authorization to begin operations under the newly approved structures. The decisions remain subject to conditions that must be satisfied before the banks can formally open and launch the relevant activities.

Two banks can put a dollar token in a customer's hands and stand in opposite places on the reserve, and the OCC wrote both routes down on the same day. The first letter, dated 2 September, went to OpenReserve Bank ( @OpenReserveBank ), a new national bank in Salt Lake City. Its…

— Daniel Oon (@EauDoon) September 8, 2026

The OCC published the decisions on its website as Corporate Decisions 1389 and 1390. The conditional nature of the approvals means the institutions must complete the required pre-opening steps and satisfy applicable regulatory requirements before putting their planned businesses into operation.

The decisions highlight the OCC's willingness to accommodate multiple regulated models for stablecoin and tokenized-deposit activities while maintaining supervisory requirements before commercial launch. They arrive amid a broader shift in U.S. federal policy toward regulated stablecoins, including the GENIUS Act, a federal framework for payment stablecoins signed into law in July 2025, which established reserve, disclosure and supervision requirements for stablecoin issuers.

The distinction between the two approvals could become increasingly relevant as financial institutions explore different ways to enter the digital-asset market. Tokenized deposits can represent traditional bank deposits in blockchain-based form, while stablecoins generally seek to maintain a stable value against a reference asset such as the U.S. dollar.

For banks, the ability to combine blockchain infrastructure with established regulatory frameworks could create new channels for payments, settlement and digital financial services. At the same time, regulatory conditions surrounding issuance, reserves, custody, risk management and consumer protection remain central to any bank-led digital-asset strategy.

The Sept. 2 decisions also demonstrate that banks may seek regulatory approval for digital-asset activities through structures tailored to their individual business strategies. OpenReserve Bank is pursuing direct involvement in tokenized deposits and stablecoin issuance through its subsidiary, while Revolut Bank US is taking a distribution-focused approach.

As both institutions work toward satisfying their pre-opening conditions, their eventual launches could provide further insight into how U.S. regulators will oversee different models for bank participation in the expanding tokenized-money and stablecoin markets.

Source: CoinTrust