The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the federal regulator of nationally chartered banks in the United States, released Corporate Decision #1388 on 3 September 2026. It clears SoFi Bank, National Association to set up an operating subsidiary that will issue and redeem payment stablecoins. The letter is dated 23 July 2026, and it answers an application filed on 27 March.
What the subsidiary may do
Under US federal law, a payment stablecoin is a digital asset designed to serve as a means of payment or settlement. Its issuer undertakes to redeem it for a fixed amount of monetary value and represents that it will maintain a stable value. The decision sets out the future subsidiary's business: issuing and redeeming such stablecoins, both those carrying the bank's own brand and those issued on behalf of third-party clients. The second limb puts a white-label offer inside the perimeter of a national bank.
The OCC grounds its approval in 12 CFR 5.34(e), which lets a national bank house in an operating subsidiary the activities it could carry on directly. It finds those activities permissible for national banks and their subsidiaries, and the structure compliant with 12 CFR 5.34(e)(2).
Why a subsidiary rather than the bank
The GENIUS Act, enacted on 18 July 2025 as Public Law 119-27, lists who may issue a payment stablecoin. The list runs to three entries: a subsidiary of an insured depository institution approved under section 5904, a Federal qualified payment stablecoin issuer, and a State qualified payment stablecoin issuer. The insured depository institution does not appear in its own right; only its subsidiary does. The structure SoFi Bank has chosen follows that form.
Section 5904 sets the regulator's clock: 30 days to say whether the filing is substantially complete, 120 days to approve or deny. An application left undecided at the end of that period is approved automatically.
The condition, and the date behind it
The approval carries a single condition. If and to the extent it becomes necessary, the bank must conform, cease or divest its proposed stablecoin issuance and redemption activities, along with any other activities. The duty runs to the GENIUS Act, its implementing regulations and any other applicable laws and regulations that take effect in the future. The OCC alone judges that compliance. The letter labels the clause a condition imposed in writing by a federal banking agency within the meaning of 12 USC 1818, which makes it enforceable under that section.
That condition points at rules that have yet to take effect. The GENIUS Act takes effect on the earlier of two dates: 18 months after enactment, that is 18 January 2027, or 120 days after the federal regulators issue final implementing regulations. The subsidiary can therefore be formed before the issuer regime applies.
If the subsidiary is not established within 12 months of the letter's date, the approval lapses automatically unless the OCC grants an extension. The OCC also reserves the right to rescind it if a material change affects the information it relied on.
The Kraken link, announced the same day
SoFi Technologies and Payward, Kraken's parent, announced their partnership on 3 September 2026, the same day the decision was released. Payward joins the SoFi Exchange Network, a real-time settlement network that lets institutional clients clear and settle US dollar transactions 24 hours a day, seven days a week. SoFi in turn will use Kraken Prime as a source of digital asset liquidity.
The release calls SoFiUSD a bank-issued stablecoin and speaks of widening access to it. American Banker reported on 4 September that the stablecoin was already open to SoFi's banking customers before that announcement. The group claims 15.8 million members. Corporate Decision #1388 grants an authorisation. The subsidiary has still to be formed, and its compliance with the GENIUS Act still to be established.