Stripe-owned Bridge receives conditional approval to form a trust bank

23.02.2026

Bridge’s conditional trust-bank approval is widely viewed as a significant step toward a more formal, regulated status for stablecoin infrastructure. Such moves typically mean deeper integration into a supervisory perimeter, with higher expectations for reserves, internal controls, compliance procedures, and reporting. For businesses, this can make stablecoin settlement more practical — increasing confidence in custody, issuance operations, and risk management around “digital dollars.” For the broader market, it’s another signal of institutionalization: crypto services are shifting from “fintech overlay” models toward bank-like standards of process discipline and oversight. The long-term impact will depend on how quickly these structures scale and how consistent cross-jurisdiction rules become.