Rain Seeks US Trust Bank Charter As Crypto Firms Race Into Banking

Stablecoin payments company Rain has applied to establish a national trust bank in the US, adding to the growing list of crypto companies seeking federal banking charters. Rain said it has applied to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to create Rain National Trust Bank in New York.

If approved, the bank would provide digital-asset and US dollar custody for institutional customers, manage reserves for permitted stablecoin issuers and handle the issuing and redemption of dollar-backed stablecoins under the GENIUS Act. The application comes just days after community banks sued the OCC over its approach to crypto trust banks, making Rain’s move part of a bigger debate about crypto and banking.

Rain said the proposed bank would focus on institutional customers. It wants their digital assets and dollars to be held by a fiduciary institution that is directly overseen by a federal regulator.

Rain has filed with the @USOCC to establish Rain National Trust Bank.

If approved, the bank will:

1. Provide fiduciary custody of digital assets and dollars
2. Manage reserves for permitted stablecoin issuers
3. Issue and redeem USD-backed stablecoins

Rain will stay a payments platform. It will not take deposits or make commercial loans.

Brandon Soto, former CFO of Square Financial Services and most recently CFO of Coastal Financial Corporation, will serve as the proposed President and CEO of Rain National Trust Bank.

The public portion of the application will be posted on the OCC’s website shortly.

Full press release linked below.

— farooq 🌧 (@rooqster) October 5, 2026

Rain CEO and co-founder Farooq Malik said companies building financial products through Rain want their assets to be held by a fiduciary that answers to a federal regulator.

The company has also named Brandon Soto as president and CEO of the proposed bank, subject to OCC review. Soto previously served as chief financial officer of Square Financial Services.

Rain is not the only company looking for this type of banking charter. Modern Treasury also announced on Monday that it had applied for a national trust bank charter. Its proposed bank would focus on digital-asset custody and related fiat services.

Several other crypto companies have also been moving in the same direction. The list includes Bastion, Ripple, Circle, BitGo, Kraken parent Payward, Zerohash and Block.

Some companies have already received approval. Bastion and Ripple have received conditional approvals, while Circle and BitGo have received final approvals. The growing interest in trust bank charters, however, has attracted criticism from traditional banks.

On Friday, the Independent Community Bankers of America, or ICBA, sued the OCC in the US District Court for the District of Columbia. The group also named Comptroller Jonathan Gould in the lawsuit.

The ICBA argues that the OCC has gone too far in allowing non-depository trust banks to conduct activities that are not strictly fiduciary in nature. It is particularly concerned about crypto and digital-asset companies entering the banking system through national trust charters.

Source: rain.xyz

According to the group, these companies could offer services similar to those provided by community banks without facing all the same rules and obligations.

The ICBA also raised another concern. It said customers might see the words “national bank” and assume that their money or crypto assets have federal insurance, even when that may not be the case.

The banking group wants the court to overturn the OCC’s March 2026 chartering rule and a 2021 interpretive letter. It also wants to stop further charter approvals based on those measures.

According to the ICBA complaint, the OCC has approved or conditionally approved at least 21 trust banks, including at least 13 crypto companies.

The crypto industry has pushed back against the lawsuit. The Crypto Council for Innovation said on Monday that the case was an attempt to slow down innovation.

For Rain, the application comes at an important time. Stablecoins are becoming a bigger part of payments, while crypto companies are looking for ways to connect digital assets with the traditional financial system.

If approved, Rain National Trust Bank would give the company a federally regulated structure for custody, reserve management and stablecoin services. But the application still needs to go through the OCC review process.

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