Revolut has cleared a decisive regulatory hurdle on its path to opening a national bank in the United States, and tucked inside the announcement is a detail that matters far beyond the fintech world: the company wants to issue a stablecoin from its own chartered bank.
On September 3, Revolut said the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency had conditionally approved its application to establish Revolut Bank US, N.A., advancing a charter process that formally began with the company’s application in March. The decision does not allow the bank to open its doors, but it moves the fintech from the application queue into the final stretch of a multi-agency approval gauntlet.
The proposed bank would be headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, with an initial capital contribution of approximately 95 million USD. Revolut expects the institution to open in the first half of 2027 and employ roughly 160 people.
“We’re grateful for the OCC’s open and transparent dialogue throughout this process,” Revolut U.S. CEO Cetin Duransoy said, adding that the decision keeps the company on track for a 2027 launch of the proposed national bank. Founder and group CEO Nik Storonsky described the approval as a foundation for offering Revolut’s full range of services in the United States. The company says it now serves more than 80 million customers globally.
What conditional approval actually means
Conditional approval is an intermediate stage, not a launch permit. Revolut must still satisfy the OCC’s conditions, secure deposit insurance from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, obtain approval from the Federal Reserve, and receive final authorization from the OCC before opening.
Until then, Revolut’s American customers will continue to be served through Lead Bank, an FDIC member that currently holds the underlying accounts. A final national charter would let the fintech offer covered banking products through its own U.S. bank rather than depending on a partner for the infrastructure beneath customer deposits.
Once authorized, Revolut Bank US plans to offer checking accounts, credit cards, installment loans and foreign exchange services. The company’s earlier product plan also included multicurrency deposits, investment accounts, stock trading and crypto trading, with business banking potentially following the initial consumer launch. Mortgages are not part of the first three-year plan.
The stablecoin wrinkle
The detail drawing the most attention in crypto circles is the stablecoin listed among the planned products of the proposed bank. Revolut has not disclosed the token’s currency, network, reserve structure or launch date, and the company frames the product as contingent on the remaining regulatory clearances.
Even with a national bank charter in hand, the stablecoin would face a separate federal rulebook. Under the GENIUS Act, which became law in July 2025, only permitted issuers may issue payment stablecoins in the United States. OCC proposals implementing the law cover reserves, redemptions, audits, risk controls, custody and supervision for issuers falling under the agency’s authority.
That means the charter resolves who supervises the bank, but not every question about the token. The issuer, structure and launch conditions would need to comply with the stablecoin framework and whatever final regulations are in force when the product reaches customers.
It is also worth being precise about deposit protection: FDIC insurance would apply to qualifying bank deposits, not to crypto assets or stablecoins, and coverage depends on the bank obtaining FDIC approval in the first place.
EURR gives Revolut a running start
Revolut is not starting its stablecoin education from zero. In Europe, the company distributes EURR, a euro-backed token issued by Bridge Building S.A., the Luxembourg entity of stablecoin infrastructure company Bridge, which Stripe acquired in 2025. EURR is designed to hold a value of one euro, initially operates on Ethereum, and is being distributed to eligible customers in Denmark, Poland and Portugal through Revolut’s regulated crypto service.
Bridge manages the token’s reserves under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework, and Revolut has said additional networks and stablecoins linked to other national currencies are under consideration. The company also holds MiCA authorization through the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, and Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority granted in-principle approval in July for services that could include crypto brokerage, exchange and asset management.
A global licensing sprint
The U.S. approval lands in the middle of an aggressive global expansion. Revolut received a full U.K. banking license in March, an Australian banking authorization in July, and a French banking license in August that created its second European Union banking hub alongside Lithuania. The French entity is intended to support locally regulated deposits, lending and savings products, beginning in France before extending to other Western European markets. During the same period, Revolut began operating as a bank in Mexico, secured a payments license in the UAE, and said it is pursuing licenses in Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Argentina and South Africa.
For the U.S. market, the strategy targets customers who regularly use several currencies, including people with financial ties to Europe, Latin America and Asia. Duransoy has said the bank would rely on existing ATM networks rather than opening physical branches.
Why crypto watchers should care
A chartered national bank with a stablecoin on its product roadmap is the clearest signal yet of how the GENIUS Act era is meant to work: regulated institutions issuing payment tokens inside the federal banking perimeter, rather than offshore issuers operating at its edge. If Revolut clears the FDIC, the Federal Reserve and the OCC’s final authorization, its token would compete directly with bank-issued and non-bank permitted stablecoins in the largest consumer market in the West.
The conditional approval does not guarantee any of that happens. But it moves the question from whether a major fintech can build a bank-stablecoin hybrid in the United States to when, and under whose supervision. For now, the OCC has signaled it is willing to let Revolut try.
conditional OCC approval is a milestone, not a finish line. Fed and FDIC still have to sign off. a chartered bank issuing its own stablecoin in 2027 would be a genuine first though
state trusts already issue stablecoins so not a first exactly. but a national bank doing it under OCC supervision is a different regulatory tier entirely
by 2027 half the fintechs will have launched one anyway. circle must love watching banks burn their own compliance money to enter the market
everyone focused on the stablecoin roadmap but the lead bank detail is the real story. revolut pays a partner bank for that FDIC pass-through right now, own charter means that cost line just disappears
the real story is escaping partner bank infrastructure. once the charter lands, deposit margins stay in house instead of getting shared with a sponsor bank
lead bank has been quietly printing on all these fintech partner programs. internalizing that margin is exactly why the fed will take its sweet time here
and that sponsor bank margin is exactly what the occ wants visibility into. fintechs parking deposits at partner banks is how the whole middleware mess started
depends on the conditions attached. OCC conditional approvals usually come with capital strings that squeeze exactly the margin story you describe
95 million initial capital against 80 million customers feels thin. they will be raising again long before the FDIC signs anything
95 million clears the OCC minimum for a national bank with room to spare, and its just the initial injection. the fed and fdic timelines are the real stretch risk here
160 employees and one stamford office though, its a lean charter not a fortress. they can inject capital later, surviving the approval queue was the hard part
lean until you remember the parent balance sheet. revolut group is not gonna let the whole US thesis stall over one stamford office headcount
agree it looks thin, but a 2027 stablecoin date buys them time to recapitalize before it matters. nobody builds float on day one anyway
95 million is the entry ticket, not the war chest. revolut prints fx float off 80 million users already, and the stablecoin on a 2027 roadmap is how they keep that yield instead of handing it to visa
a chartered revolut bank issuing its own stablecoin means the float stays on their own ledger. visa and mastercard should watch this one closer than circle is