The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the federal regulator of nationally chartered banks, has approved an operating subsidiary of SoFi Bank, National Association that will issue and redeem payment stablecoins. The subsidiary may issue stablecoins branded by the bank and stablecoins issued on behalf of third-party clients. That second line of business puts a white-label stablecoin offering inside a national bank.
The OCC published the approval as Corporate Decision #1388 on September 3, 2026. The letter itself is dated July 23, 2026, and answers an application SoFi Bank filed on March 27. It carries a single condition tied to the GENIUS Act, the federal stablecoin law, and lapses if the subsidiary is not formed within 12 months.
The OCC based its approval on 12 CFR 5.34(e), which lets a national bank conduct in an operating subsidiary the activities it could conduct directly. The regulator concluded that the subsidiary’s activities are legally permissible for national banks and their operating subsidiaries, and that the structure meets the requirements of 12 CFR 5.34(e)(2).
The GENIUS Act lets bank subsidiaries issue, not banks
Under federal law, a payment stablecoin is a digital asset designed to be used for payment or settlement. Its issuer is obligated to redeem it for a fixed amount of monetary value and represents that it will maintain a stable value.
The GENIUS Act, signed into law on July 18, 2025, as Public Law 119-27, lists three kinds of permitted payment stablecoin issuers: a subsidiary of an insured depository institution approved under section 5904, a federal qualified payment stablecoin issuer, and a state qualified payment stablecoin issuer. An insured depository institution is not on the list in its own right. Only its subsidiary is. SoFi Bank’s structure follows that design.
Section 5904 also puts regulators on a clock. They have 30 days to tell an applicant whether its application is substantially complete, then 120 days to approve or deny it. An application still undecided at the end of that period is deemed approved.
The condition covers rules not yet in force
The OCC’s single condition reads: “If and to the extent necessary, the Bank must conform, cease, or divest its proposed stablecoin issuance and redemption activities and any other activities to comply with the GENIUS Act (12 USC 5901 et seq.), any implementing regulations, and any other applicable laws and regulations that take effect in the future, such compliance to be determined in the sole discretion of the OCC.” The letter treats it as a condition imposed in writing by a federal banking agency within the meaning of 12 USC 1818, which makes it enforceable under that statute.
Those rules have not yet taken effect. The GENIUS Act becomes effective on the earlier of two dates: 18 months after enactment, which is January 18, 2027, or 120 days after federal regulators issue final implementing regulations. SoFi Bank can therefore form the subsidiary before the issuer regime applies.
If the subsidiary is not established within 12 months of the letter, the approval terminates automatically unless the OCC grants an extension. The OCC may also modify, suspend, or rescind the approval if there is a material change in the information it relied on.
Kraken deal announced the same day
SoFi Technologies and Payward, the parent company of Kraken, announced a partnership on September 3, 2026, the day the OCC published the decision. Payward joins the SoFi Exchange Network, SoFi’s real-time settlement network, which lets institutional clients clear and settle US dollar transactions 24 hours a day, seven days a week. SoFi, for its part, will use Kraken Prime as an additional source of digital asset liquidity.
The release describes SoFiUSD as a bank-issued stablecoin and says access to it will widen. American Banker reported on September 4 that SoFi had already made the stablecoin available to its banking customers before the announcement. SoFi says it has 15.8 million members.
Corporate Decision #1388 is an authorization, not a launch. The subsidiary has yet to be formed, and its compliance with the GENIUS Act has yet to be established.