Galaxy Digital (NASDAQ:GLXY) applied for a national trust bank charter Thursday, following Ripple’s own federal approval for a similar structure earlier this week.
What Galaxy’s Bank Application Actually Covers
Galaxy announced that its subsidiary, Galaxy Digital LP, submitted an application to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish Galaxy National Bank, a proposed national trust bank headquartered in New York.
If approved, the bank would operate as a federally regulated trust institution under OCC supervision, housing Galaxy’s custody, trading and staking services for digital assets alongside fiduciary investment advisory services.
Galaxy founder and CEO Mike Novogratz said in a statement that digital assets are becoming an increasingly important part of the global financial system, and a national trust charter would let Galaxy bring more services under a single federal framework.
The application builds on more than 50 licenses Galaxy already holds across the US, Europe and Asia, including SEC-registered broker-dealer subsidiaries and a CFTC-registered swap dealer subsidiary.
Moreover, New York’s Department of Financial Services recently granted a Galaxy subsidiary a BitLicense and a Money Transmission License, allowing it to offer digital asset trading and custody services to institutions across the state.
Why Ripple Just Secured a Similar Charter
As Benzinga reported Monday, Ripple (CRYPTO: XRP) CEO Brad Garlinghouse announced the OCC granted final approval for Ripple National Trust Bank, giving the company a federally supervised platform to support RLUSD (CRYPTO: RLUSD)and provide digital asset custody to enterprises.
“We’ve always said crypto and banks work better together, this is what that looks like,” Garlinghouse said. “The revolution isn’t happening outside the system. It’s happening from within it,” he added.
Ripple first applied for the charter and a Federal Reserve master account in July 2025, receiving conditional approval in December.
Approved activities now cover managing the segregated reserves backing RLUSD, acting as collateral trustee for RLUSD holders, and offering fiduciary digital asset custody services.
Meanwhile, RLUSD carries a market capitalization of $2.58 billion and functions as collateral within Ripple Prime, the company’s institutional brokerage arm.
The OCC’s willingness to approve back-to-back applications from Ripple and Galaxy suggests regulators remain open to bringing more of the crypto industry under direct federal oversight.
Image: Shutterstock
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