Circle adds a New York trust charter on top of its federal one
USDC issuer Circle secured a limited purpose trust charter from New York regulator NYDFS on 31 July, three weeks after final federal approval from the OCC. The issuer of the second-largest stablecoin now sits under dual US supervision. For European holders, nothing changes legally.
Circle, the issuer of USDC, received a limited purpose trust charter from New York regulator NYDFS on 31 July. It came three weeks after final federal approval. Two charters in three weeks — and together they add up to something competitors cannot currently match.
Two charters, two levels
The New York charter is held by Circle New York Trust and grants fiduciary powers plus the right to conduct virtual currency business under New York Banking Law.
On 10 July, federal regulator the OCC gave final approval for First National Digital Currency Bank, N.A., operating under the name Circle National Trust. That application had been running for some time: filed on 30 June 2025, conditionally approved in December 2025.
What a trust charter is — and is not
One misconception worth clearing up: a national trust bank charter is not a banking licence in the ordinary sense. It covers custody and fiduciary services — not deposit-taking or lending. The gain lies elsewhere: direct federal supervision, and in time the ability to manage USDC reserves under that supervision.
The numbers
On 31 July, USDC had a market capitalisation of roughly 72.09 billion dollars (roughly €62.5 billion), on a circulating supply of about 71.9 billion tokens. That keeps USDC the second-largest stablecoin, behind USDT.
Why this does not mean the same thing for Europe
Here the paths diverge. A US charter grants no rights in the European Union. What USDC may do here, and what protection you have as a holder, is set by MiCA and the rules for e-money tokens — not by NYDFS or the OCC. A stack of US charters therefore says something about supervision of the issuer, and nothing about your legal position as a European holder.
That is not a technicality. Anyone reading the announcement as "USDC is now better protected in Europe too" is drawing the wrong conclusion.
Caveat
Stacking supervision reduces counterparty risk, but it is no guarantee of the dollar peg; a charter is not deposit insurance. And note the gap between permission and practice: Circle was authorised to open the trust bank from 10 July — that is an approval, not automatically a running operation.
Sources: CoinDesk (31 July 2026), Circle pressroom and BusinessWire (10 July 2026), OCC. Converted at USD→EUR 0.8675. Last checked: 2 August 2026.