Rain Seeks US Trust Bank Charter for Stablecoin Issuance

Rain said it has applied to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish a U.S. national trust bank. The proposed subsidiary would hold digital assets and dollars in fiduciary custody, manage stablecoin reserves, and issue and redeem dollar-backed stablecoins for institutional clients.

The payments company’s Oct. 5 announcement names the proposed New York-based subsidiary Rain National Trust Bank. It has not been approved. Rain says the limited-purpose bank would not accept deposits, offer consumer accounts or make commercial loans, and would not be FDIC insured.

The change would give Rain’s partners an additional provider for the assets behind their payment programs. Those assets currently sit across state licenses, third-party custodians and outside stablecoin issuers, according to Rain. The proposed bank would add custody, reserve management and issuance under one federally supervised subsidiary, rather than immediately replace the existing arrangements.

“Rain will stay a payments platform,” CEO and co-founder Farooq Malik wrote on X.

Rain says the separately capitalized bank would hold client custody assets apart from its own assets. It would administer reserves for permitted stablecoin issuers under the GENIUS Act and could itself become the issuer of record. Reserves backing stablecoins it issues would not be pledged, lent or reused, the company said.

Brandon Soto is the proposed president and CEO, subject to OCC review. He most recently served as chief financial officer of Coastal Financial Corporation and previously held that role at Square Financial Services, where Rain says he helped prepare the bank’s charter application.

Rain lists more than 200 partners and is a principal member of Visa and Mastercard. Its existing model is visible in Western Union’s Stablecard, which launched in 37 markets in August using Rain’s wallet and card infrastructure. The product uses USDPT, issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, rather than Rain.

A Contested Charter Path

Rain joins other digital-asset businesses seeking federal trust charters. The OCC’s published pending-applications list includes zerohash national trust bank, Dakota National Trust Bank and Payward National Trust Company.

The route is also under legal challenge. The Independent Community Bankers of America sued the OCC on Oct. 2, arguing that the agency exceeded its authority by allowing national trust banks to conduct non-fiduciary crypto activities. Its complaint seeks to invalidate a March chartering rule and a 2021 interpretive letter. The OCC said when issuing the rule that it clarified longstanding authority rather than expanded it.

Rain calls its proposed bank a “multi-year initiative” and says existing card, wallet and money-movement programs will continue unchanged. It expects the public application to appear on the OCC’s website in the coming days, with a public comment period as part of the review. Operations would begin only after all required approvals.