Circle National Trust Becomes Federally Regulated Bank for Wrapped Bitcoin
Circle National Trust, operating as First National Digital Currency Bank, N.A., has received final approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and opened its doors for business on July 24. The bank's primary mission is to serve as a regulated custodial backbone for cirBTC, Circle's wrapped Bitcoin product that lets BTC holders access Ethereum-based DeFi protocols without parting with their Bitcoin.
Circle National Trust functions as a qualified custodian, holding native Bitcoin in segregated, bankruptcy-remote accounts on behalf of cirBTC token holders. The transparency layer comes courtesy of Chainlink's Proof of Reserve system, which provides verifiable on-chain attestation that the reserves actually exist.
This is a pointed response to the trust problems that have plagued other wrapped Bitcoin products over the years, where users often had to take a custodian's word that the backing assets were really there. The regulatory journey was not overnight, with Circle filing its application on June 30, 2025, receiving conditional approval in December 2025, and securing final OCC sign-off in July 2026.