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Circle, the company behind USDC, wants to become a national trust bank in the U.S.
They filed a request with the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to make it official.
Their goal? To handle the USDC reserves directly and offer safe storage for tokenized assets.
Right now, big players like BlackRock and BNY Mellon manage those reserves.
This new bank would be called First National Digital Currency Bank.
It won’t deal with cash or give out loans—only digital assets.
Circle’s CEO Jeremy Allaire said this is a big step toward building an online financial system that’s open and efficient.
Instead of focusing on Bitcoin or Ethereum, they’ll deal with tokenized stocks and bonds.*
The company recently went public with a $6 billion market cap.
Its stock has already more than doubled, sitting at $181 per share.
Lawmakers are also close to passing new rules for stablecoins.
The bill would make stablecoins keep liquid reserves and share monthly reports.
President Trump is expected to sign it into law this summer.
Circle wants to be ready when that happens.
Meanwhile, big banks are watching.
Barclays, Bernstein, and Canaccord all gave Circle strong buy ratings.
But JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs are worried the stock may be overpriced.
*Tokenized stocks and bonds: Digital versions of traditional assets stored on a blockchain.
