- Bridge announced a major partnership with Payoneer and conditional approval from the OCC to organize a national trust bank on Tuesday.
Bridge, a developer-first stablecoin platform Stripe acquired last year, is now making its big moves. It forged a partnership with Payoneer, an online payment infrastructure provider, following conditional approval of its national trust bank charter.
Payoneer’s Partnership with Bridge
Payoneer announced on Tuesday that it plans to launch a suite of stablecoin solutions on its payments platform. Bridge will power the system, enabling businesses to hold and transfer value securely and efficiently.
The payments network recognizes the growing adoption of stablecoins, driven by their range of real-world use cases. It highlighted that these digital assets offer faster settlement than traditional means, with 24/7 accessibility and programmable money movement.
However, Payoneer noted that stablecoin conversion into local currencies remains challenging. Additionally, the broader adoption of stablecoins is hindered by the complexities of managing their fragmented workflows, blockchain processes, and evolving regulatory requirements.
Hence, the platform, which serves approximately two million customers globally, has decided to integrate Bridge’s regulated infrastructure into its unified financial stack to significantly reduce friction in cross-border transactions for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (SMBs).
Payoneer aims to launch its Bridge-infused capabilities by the second quarter of this year.
Conditional Approval to Transform Into a National Trust Bank
Bridge revealed on the same day that it has received conditional approval to organize a federally chartered national trust bank. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued the order.
The authorization allows the company to operate stablecoin services under the OCC’s direct oversight. As a national trust bank, Bridge can manage and hold assets on behalf of customers. Moreover, the federal approval lets it to operate on the same rails as traditional finance (TradFi) players.
The OCC approval permits Bridge to conduct the following activities:
- Digital asset custody
- Stablecoin issuance and orchestration
- Stablecoin reserve management
On the other hand, US legal and regulatory frameworks prohibit national trust banks from providing other services beyond custody, settlement, and fiduciary services to clients. These include offering loans or accepting deposits like regular banks.
Bridge emphasized that its transition was made possible by evolving regulatory clarity in the US, starting with the passage of the GENIUS (Guaranteeing Essential National Infrastructure in US-Stablecoins) Act, which provides comprehensive legislation on stablecoins, and the OCC’s crypto-friendly regime.
Bridge declared that the approval demonstrates its compliance readiness ahead of the GENIUS Act’s full enforcement. Furthermore, the company said that the national bank charter will enable it to build a “regulatory backbone” that will allow customers to develop their stablecoins confidently and at scale.
