Stablecoin Issuer Bastion Gets Conditional Approval for OCC Banking License -- WSJ

By Jasmine Li

Stablecoin issuer Bastion received conditional approval for a national trust bank charter on Friday, opening the door to the traditional financial system.

The license from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency enables Bastion, pitched as a stablecoin partner for large enterprises and financial institutions, to work closer with many of those institutions.

"If you are a bank, you cannot rely on simple fintech unless they are federally regulated," Chief Executive Nassim Eddequiouaq said in an interview. "We can now be that regulated partner for all of the largest financial institutions in and outside of the U.S., who want to launch products here."

Bastion issues white-label stablecoins for other businesses, and manages the custody of holding reserves and customer wallets behind the scenes.

The details

Stablecoins, or digital tokens pegged to the U.S. dollar or other currencies, are gaining mainstream attention. Proponents have praised them for offering faster transactions with lower fees compared with wire transfers.

"There's going to be this expectation that banks can actually transact 24/7 for a fraction of a cent," Eddequiouaq said.

Founded in 2023 by two former a16z crypto executives, Bastion's backers include Coinbase Ventures, Sony Innovation Fund and Samsung Next. It raised $14.6 million in its latest funding round last year.

Bastion was named the stablecoin partner of Japan's Sony Bank last year. Sony uses Bastion for stablecoin custody, payments infrastructure and issuance, and has plans to introduce stablecoin payments into its gaming and entertainment ecosystem.

Bastion also named new appointments to its board on Friday: Colleen Taylor, a former American Express executive, and Michael Patterson, former chief compliance officer of Genesis. Joining as advisers are Optum Financial executive Gabriella Fitzgerald and former Morgan Stanley chief compliance officer Stuart Breslow.

The context

As part of the Trump administration's crypto-friendly agenda, the OCC under Comptroller Jonathan Gould has approved the launch of several crypto-focused trust banks this year.

A consortium of more than a dozen financial institutions including Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Santander, has been moving forward on a stablecoin venture, The Wall Street Journal reported last month. Visa, BlackRock, Google and DoorDash are among the nonbank companies that have moved to enter the stablecoin market.

Bastion's approval comes days after a setback for the broader crypto industry: The Clarity Act, a bill to establish a regulatory framework for digital assets, failed to clear a procedural vote in the Senate. Eddequiouaq said the Genius Act, signed into law last year, already established a framework for stablecoins.

"Stablecoins already had their Clarity moment," he said.

Write to Jasmine Li at jasmine.li@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 18, 2026 16:05 ET (20:05 GMT)