Rain, a stablecoin payments infrastructure provider, has submitted an application to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish a national trust bank. The proposed entity, Rain National Trust Bank (RNTB), aims to consolidate custody, reserve management, and stablecoin issuance functions under a unified federal regulatory framework.
According to CEO Farooq Malik, the bank will operate as a separate subsidiary from the main payments platform. It will hold client assets in fiduciary custody and remain subject to direct OCC examination. This move is designed to address the requirements of partners who seek to have their assets managed by a fiduciary accountable to a federal regulator.
The announcement follows a similar move by Modern Treasury, which also recently declared its intent to seek an OCC national trust bank charter. Modern Treasury CEO Matt Marcus stated that the company has integrated stablecoins into its payments platform and aims to provide federally supervised digital asset custody services.
The industry trend toward seeking federal charters faces opposition from traditional banking groups. The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) has filed a lawsuit against the OCC, arguing that cryptocurrency firms receive less regulatory scrutiny than community banks. The OCC has not provided comments regarding the ongoing litigation.
