Sony Bank files for a national trust charter to issue stablecoins, as Anchorage Digital expands its banking services.
The U.S. crypto banking sector is heating up as Japan-based Sony Bank, a subsidiary of the Sony Financial Group, recently filed with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a national trust charter, signaling a growing race among institutions to offer regulated digital asset services.
Dubbed Connectia Trust, N.A., the bank would operate as a trust company in the U.S. and offer cryptocurrency services, including issuing dollar-backed stablecoins, holding digital assets for clients, and managing assets for affiliated companies.
If approved, Sony Bank would be one of the first major global technology companies to run a federally regulated crypto bank in the U.S. The filing also reflects a broader trend of both traditional financial (TradFi) firms and crypto-native companies seeking federal oversight to offer digital asset products.
Institutions such as Coinbase, Paxos, Ripple, and Fidelity are already awaiting OCC approval. Coinbase is seeking permission to create Coinbase National Trust Company (CNTC), a new national trust bank based in New York. It filed with the OCC on Oct. 3, 2025.
Ripple filed a charter application earlier this year, on July 2, 2025. Meanwhile, Fidelity, the third-largest asset manager in the U.S. with $5.9 trillion of assets under management, filed on June 11, 2025.
For now, Anchorage Digital Bank remains the only crypto-native bank with a full OCC charter. Valued at $3 billion, Anchorage announced earlier today that it now supports USD wire transfers globally.
This makes Anchorage the first U.S. crypto-native bank to offer cash and crypto services on a single federally regulated platform.
“We’re eliminating the operational complexity of managing both cash and crypto,” said Nathan McCauley, CEO of Anchorage Digital, per a press release. “Our clients can now consolidate assets with a single, federally regulated banking partner and move funds efficiently across both.”
The race also comes as the stablecoin sector continues to rapidly expand. As of October 2025, the total stablecoin market capitalization exceeds $307 billion, up from roughly $5 billion in 2020, per DeFiLlama. Tether’s USDT, which has a market capitalization of $181 billion, currently holds the largest market share with 59%.
Source: https://thedefiant.io/news/cefi/sony-enters-u-s-crypto-banking-race-amid-growing-institutional-interest
