Sony Bank files for a national trust charter to issue stablecoins, as Anchorage Digital expands its banking services.<\/p>\n
The U.S. crypto banking sector is heating up as Japan-based Sony Bank, a subsidiary of the Sony Financial Group, recently filed<\/a> with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a national trust charter, signaling a growing race among institutions to offer regulated digital asset services.<\/p>\n Dubbed Connectia Trust, N.A., the bank would operate as a trust company in the U.S. and offer cryptocurrency services, including issuing dollar-backed stablecoins<\/a>, holding digital assets for clients, and managing assets for affiliated companies. <\/p>\n If approved, Sony Bank would be one of the first major global technology companies to run a federally regulated crypto bank in the U.S. The filing also reflects a broader trend of both traditional financial (TradFi) firms and crypto-native companies seeking federal oversight to offer digital asset products.<\/p>\n Institutions such as Coinbase<\/a>, Paxos, Ripple, and Fidelity are already awaiting OCC approval. Coinbase is seeking permission to create Coinbase National Trust Company (CNTC), a new national trust bank based in New York. It filed with the OCC on Oct. 3, 2025. <\/p>\n Ripple filed<\/a> a charter application earlier this year, on July 2, 2025. Meanwhile, Fidelity, the third-largest asset manager in the U.S. with $5.9 trillion of assets under management, filed on June 11, 2025. <\/p>\n For now, Anchorage Digital Bank<\/a> remains the only crypto-native bank with a full OCC charter. Valued at $3 billion, Anchorage announced earlier today that it now supports USD wire transfers globally. <\/p>\n This makes Anchorage the first U.S. crypto-native bank to offer cash and crypto services on a single federally regulated platform.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re eliminating the operational complexity of managing both cash and crypto,\u201d said Nathan McCauley, CEO of Anchorage Digital, per a press release<\/a>. \u201cOur clients can now consolidate assets with a single, federally regulated banking partner and move funds efficiently across both.\u201d<\/p>\n