Rain Files With OCC for National Trust Bank Charter

Rain, an enterprise stablecoin payments infrastructure provider, said it has submitted an application to the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to form Rain National Trust Bank (RNTB), a proposed national trust bank to be headquartered in New York. If approved, RNTB would consolidate key functions tied to Rain's partner program—custody, reserve management, and stablecoin issuance and redemption—under a single federal regulatory framework. Rain said its partners currently offer stablecoin cards, wallets, and funds transfer services reaching millions of end users, with supporting assets today spread across state licenses, third-party custodians, and third-party stablecoin issuers. Farooq Malik, Rain's cofounder and CEO, said customers want project assets held by a trustee accountable to federal regulators. He added that Rain will continue operating as a payments platform, while the proposed trust bank would be an independent subsidiary holding customer assets in a fiduciary capacity and subject to OCC examinations. Planned business lines Rain said RNTB would serve institutional clients in the digital asset payments ecosystem through three lines of business: - Custody: Holding approved digital and fiat assets in a fiduciary capacity, with client assets segregated from the proposed bank's own assets. - Reserve management: Holding and managing reserves for approved stablecoin issuers under the GENIUS Act. - Issuance and redemption: Issuing U.S. dollar-backed stablecoins as a registered issuer under the GENIUS Act. Rain said RNTB, as an uninsured national trust bank, would not accept deposits, extend commercial loans, or offer consumer accounts. Client assets held at RNTB would be custodial assets for identified owners rather than bank liabilities, and reserves backing any stablecoins issued by RNTB would not be pledged, lent, or reused. Rain said it is not a bank and will continue to operate as a stablecoin payments platform, including as a primary member of Visa and Mastercard through other subsidiaries. RNTB would be separately capitalized and supervised and examined by the OCC. Leadership Rain named Brandon Soto as the proposed President and Chief Executive Officer of RNTB, subject to OCC approval. Soto most recently served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Coastal Financial Corporation. Previously, he was CFO of Square Financial Services, Inc., an industrial bank chartered by Utah under Block, where he helped prepare and advance the bank's charter application for approval by the FDIC and the Utah Department of Financial Institutions and oversaw finance, funding, and capital management. Earlier in his career, he served as CFO and Chief Administrative Officer at Green Dot Bank. Soto said the core responsibilities of a trust bank are knowing what it holds, for whom it holds it, and maintaining security, emphasizing daily reconciliation, strict controls, clear ownership, and appropriate capitalization. Process and timing The application will be reviewed by the OCC and includes a public comment period. Rain said the public portion of the application will be posted on the OCC's website at occ.gov. The company said it will work closely with the OCC during the review and noted it collaborated with Paul Hastings during the application process. Company background Rain describes itself as a global stablecoin payments platform serving enterprises, neobanks, platforms, developers, and AI agents. It provides infrastructure for transferring, storing, and using stablecoins via payment cards, rewards, fiat on/off-ramps, stablecoin and fiat wallets, and cross-border channels. Rain said it is a direct member of Visa and Mastercard, and that Rain-issued cards are accepted at more than 175 million merchant locations across more than 200 countries and regions. Media contact: [email protected]