Today in crypto: A US banking regulator approved several bank charter applications from digital asset companies, including Ripple, Circle and BitGo. Meanwhile, Phantom Wallet partnered with Kalshi to bring prediction markets into its app, and the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation received regulatory approval to launch a tokenization service in the United States.

Paxos, Ripple, Circle and others secure US trust bank approvals

The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has conditionally approved five national bank charter applications for companies tied to the digital assets industry.

In a Friday notice, the OCC said it had conditionally approved BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets and Paxos to convert their existing state-level trust companies into federally chartered national trust banks. In the same announcement, the regulator said it had conditionally approved new applications from Circle and Ripple for national trust bank charters.

“New entrants into the federal banking sector are good for consumers, the banking industry and the economy,” said Jonathan Gould, the Comptroller of the Currency, adding: “The OCC will continue to provide a path for both traditional and innovative approaches to financial services to ensure the federal banking system keeps pace with the evolution of finance and supports a modern economy.”

The five crypto companies are just a few of the many in the industry seeking regulatory approval from the OCC to expand their presence in the banking sector. Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase said in October it had filed an application but had “no intention of becoming a bank.”

Although the wording of each applicant’s letter was slightly different, the companies said they would utilize the charters to provide digital asset custody services to clients. Though Paxos’ application permitted the bank to issue stablecoins, Ripple’s explicitly said its charter would “not be a stablecoin issuer” for its US dollar-pegged coin, RLUSD (RLUSD). 

“Paxos’ federally regulated platform will allow businesses to issue, custody, trade and settle digital assets with clarity and confidence,” said Paxos in a Friday statement.

Japan, Colombia, Latin America, Index Funds, Companies, Policy, Prediction Markets
Friday letter approving Circle’s national trust bank charter application. Source: OCC

Phantom taps Kalshi to offer regulated prediction markets in wallet

Crypto wallet application Phantom has partnered with regulated prediction market Kalshi to bring event-based trading directly into its wallet interface, signaling a deeper convergence between onchain finance and real-world outcome betting. 

The companies said on Friday that the integration would allow Phantom users to discover trending events, track live odds and place bets without leaving their wallets. 

A new feature called Phantom Prediction Markets will allow users to trade tokenized positions that reference Kalshi’s event markets across politics, economics, sports and culture. 

“By integrating a layer of tokenized positions referencing Kalshi’s regulated event markets with Phantom, users can trade what they care about in real time,” said Phantom CEO Brandon Millman.

Source: Phantom

SEC clears DTCC to offer securities market tokenization service

The US Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday gave a subsidiary of the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation a highly coveted “no-action” letter, allowing it to offer a new securities market tokenization service.

The Depository Trust Company was given the go-ahead to launch “a new service to tokenize real-world, DTC-custodied assets in a controlled production environment.” The company is an arm of the DTCC, which runs crucial market infrastructure, providing clearing, settlement and trading of US securities.

The DTCC said it will tokenize a “set of highly liquid assets,” including the Russell 1000 index, exchange-traded funds tracking major indexes, US Treasury bills, bonds and notes, with the service expected to roll out in the second half of 2026.

The SEC no-action letter gives it an important sign-off on its plan, confirming that the agency won’t take enforcement action if its proposed product operates as described.