Sony (TSE:6758) Wins OCC Approval To Launch Connectia Trust Stablecoin Bank

Sony Bank, the online banking unit of Sony Financial Group, has received conditional approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish Connectia Trust, National Association, a New York-based national trust bank subsidiary capitalized at $40 million and wholly owned by Sony Bank. The entity will issue and manage dollar-denominated stablecoins. The approval, announced on July 9, 2026, is preliminary and conditional; Sony says no business activities, including stablecoin issuance, will begin until all approvals, including final OCC sign-off, are obtained. Sony is targeting a 2027 launch and plans to partner with Bastion Platforms for issuance, reserve management, and custody.

Background

Sony Bank submitted a de novo trust bank application to the OCC last October, according to American Banker, joining a wave of financial firms seeking federal trust charters. The move follows Sony Financial Group's December announcement of a partnership with Bastion Platforms to provide stablecoin services for Sony Bank. Bastion, a California-based stablecoin infrastructure startup, is itself pursuing a national trust charter from the OCC through a conversion application and will manage issuance, reserve management, and custody for Sony's dollar-backed stablecoin once launched. Sony's stablecoin plans build on earlier efforts: Sony Bank set up a Web3 subsidiary called BlockBloom in June 2025 with an initial 300 million yen (roughly $1.9 million) in capital, aiming to blend fan communities, artists, NFTs, and both fiat and digital currencies into one ecosystem. Sony Financial Group has also previously announced plans for a stablecoin that could be used for games and anime payments. The OCC approval comes as U.S. regulators move ahead with stablecoin rules under the GENIUS Act, which establishes a comprehensive federal framework for payment stablecoins. Other firms that have won conditional OCC approval for federal trust-bank structures tied to stablecoin businesses include Stripe-owned Bridge, Paxos, and Circle Internet, according to CoinDesk.

What happened

On July 9, 2026, Sony Bank announced it had received conditional approval from the OCC to establish Connectia Trust, National Association, a U.S. national trust bank subsidiary based in New York. According to CoinDesk, the subsidiary will be capitalized with $40 million and fully owned by Sony Bank. The OCC also published its conditional approval of Sony's national trust bank charter application, American Banker reported. Sony Financial Group said the trust subsidiary is intended to contribute to the development of a medium-to-long-term business foundation for its digital asset businesses. American Banker noted that Sony Bank plans to open Connectia Trust in 2027, citing the International Business Times. Sony Bank will be the sole owner and shareholder. The company stated that until all approvals and other authorizations, including the OCC's final approval, have been obtained, no business activities, including the issuance of stablecoins, will be conducted. Sony Bank plans to issue stablecoins in partnership with Bastion Platforms, which will manage issuance, reserve management, and custody once the stablecoin is formally launched. Startup Fortune reported that final clearance still requires a second round of OCC sign-off plus approval from Japanese regulators. The token is designed to settle purchases on the PlayStation Store, cover Crunchyroll subscriptions, and eventually move through Sony's music and film businesses, according to Startup Fortune, citing Cointelegraph and Yahoo Finance. Sony Bank intends to use dollar-backed stablecoins to expand payment options within the Sony Group ecosystem for internal operations and customer use, including treasury operations, cross-border payments, and in-app digital currency payments for streaming and commerce in the entertainment sector, American Banker reported.

Market impact

The OCC approval comes as stablecoin usage is surging. According to Visa's onchain dashboard, cited by CoinDesk, stablecoin transaction volume hit a $1.79 trillion record last month, 63% more than in May and more than double the year-earlier level. Dollar-pegged tokens account for more than 99% of the total $311 billion market capitalization, according to DeFiLlama data cited by CoinDesk. Market leaders USDT and USDC alone account for about $250 billion of the total, CoinDesk noted, making it a difficult market to crack. Competition is increasing: a wave of potential rivals has won conditional approval from the OCC for federal trust-bank structures tied to stablecoin businesses, including Stripe-owned Bridge, Paxos, and Circle Internet, according to CoinDesk. Startup Fortune reported that the OCC's queue for national trust charters now includes Coinbase, Circle, Ripple, Paxos, Crypto.com, and Stripe's stablecoin arm Bridge. Sony Group (TSE:6758) was trading at ¥3,409.0, according to Yahoo Finance. The stock is roughly flat over 1 year, with gains of 40.1% over 3 years and 61.8% over 5 years. It trades around ¥3,409 versus an average analyst target of ¥4,686, roughly 27% below the consensus level, and is assessed as undervalued, trading about 20.1% below an estimated fair value, per Simply Wall St. The share price has declined about 1% over the past 30 days. Startup Fortune noted that US customers make up roughly 30% of Sony Group's external sales.

Why it matters

The approval brings Sony into federally supervised digital asset infrastructure, extending beyond its core technology and entertainment activities, according to Yahoo Finance. Evey Guo of FS Vector told American Banker that the charter will allow Sony to bring the entire stablecoin lifecycle in-house under a single federal regulator rather than relying on a third party's state trust charter and patchwork of state money transmitter licenses. Roman Goldstein, senior director at Klaros Group, told American Banker that without its own charter, Sony issues under someone else's license and inherits their regulatory risk; with a national trust bank it has a direct relationship with the regulator, controls the compliance program, keeps the income on the reserves backing the stablecoin, and has a direct path to federal qualified issuer status under the GENIUS Act. As the issuer, Sony Bank would also be able to capture the full yield on the reserve assets backing the stablecoin instead of sharing that income with an intermediary partner, Guo said. Sony Bank intends to use dollar-backed stablecoins to expand payment options within the Sony Group ecosystem, including treasury operations, cross-border payments, and in-app digital currency payments for streaming and commerce in the entertainment sector, American Banker reported. Startup Fortune noted that incorporating digital asset payments could let Sony route around card network fees on a slice of its own revenue. However, the Independent Community Bankers of America sent a letter to the OCC arguing that Connectia's token shares many features with bank deposits while sidestepping federal deposit insurance and Community Reinvestment Act obligations, calling the application an impermissible reinterpretation of federal law that could cause consumer confusion, according to Startup Fortune.