Sony Bank Gets Conditional OCC Approval for $40M Stablecoin Trust

Sony Bank, a subsidiary of Sony Financial Group, has received conditional approval from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to charter a national trust bank in the United States. The planned entity, Connectia Trust, National Association, will be based in New York and capitalized with $40 million. Sony Bank will hold full ownership of the subsidiary.

Connectia Trust is intended to issue and manage US dollar-denominated stablecoins, which are expected to begin operating in 2027. No individual Sony franchise has publicly committed to accepting the stablecoin, but it's meant to give US customers a way to pay for digital content across Sony's ecosystem, including the PlayStation gaming platform and Crunchyroll anime streaming service.

The OCC conditionally approved Circle, Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos in December. Applications have continued to arrive, but not without opposition. The Independent Community Bankers of America wrote to the OCC in November urging it to reject the Connectia Trust charter, arguing the structure would allow Sony to issue deposit-like tokens without meeting insurance requirements.