Sony Bank Clears OCC Hurdle for Dollar Stablecoin

Sony Bank has secured conditional approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish a national trust bank, moving Japan's Sony Financial Group closer to issuing its own dollar-backed stablecoin. The lender plans to set up a wholly owned subsidiary, Connectia Trust, this month with $40 million in capital, according to a statement dated July 6. The unit would issue and manage a dollar-denominated stablecoin and is expected to begin operating in 2027 once it clears the regulator's remaining conditions. Sony Bank said the trust is meant to build a 'medium- to long-term business foundation' for Sony Financial Group's digital-asset business. It has not yet named a representative for Connectia Trust.

Background

The push is only viable in the U.S. thanks to the GENIUS Act, the federal law passed last year that set reserve and disclosure rules for dollar-pegged tokens. Sony's wider crypto strategy includes the launch of an Ethereum layer-2 network, Soneium, in early 2025, on which its blockchain partner Startale rolled out a separate dollar stablecoin late last year. For its own token, Sony Bank has tapped infrastructure firm Bastion to handle issuance, reserve management and custody. Sony is joining a line of crypto and payments firms seeking federal trust status. In December, the OCC conditionally approved Circle, Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets and Paxos, and applications have kept coming, including one from Trump-linked World Liberty Financial. A national trust charter lets a firm custody assets, manage reserves and issue stablecoins under federal supervision, but bars it from taking cash deposits or making loans. Sony's bid has already faced pushback. The Independent Community Bankers of America urged the OCC to reject the Connectia Trust application in November, arguing it would let Sony issue deposit-like stablecoins while sidestepping the insurance and rules that bind ordinary banks. The wave of applications has also drawn political heat, with Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) arguing that the OCC improperly granted charters to firms that don't qualify under the National Bank Act. The Digital Chamber, a trade group representing more than 250 crypto companies, rejected that in May, with CEO Cody Carbone saying the criticism 'misreads both the statute and the OCC's longstanding charter authority.' A U.S. banking lobby has also weighed a lawsuit over the charters.

What happened

Sony Bank has secured conditional approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish a national trust bank, according to reports from Yahoo Finance and Decrypt on July 9. The lender plans to set up a wholly owned subsidiary, Connectia Trust, this month with $40 million in capital, it said in a statement dated July 6. The unit would issue and manage a dollar-denominated stablecoin, and is expected to begin operating in 2027 once it clears the regulator's remaining conditions. Sony Bank said the trust is meant to build a 'medium- to long-term business foundation' for Sony Financial Group's digital-asset business. It has not yet named a representative for Connectia Trust. TechTimes reported that the approval landed the same week Circle secured final OCC charter status for its own trust bank, and eight days before six federal agencies face a statutory deadline to finalize implementing rules under the GENIUS Act. TechTimes also noted that Connectia Trust, National Association is incorporated in New York, wholly owned by Sony Bank, and carries $40 million in initial capital, roughly 6.4 billion yen at current exchange rates. That capitalization exceeds 10 percent of Sony Financial Group's own capital, which Japanese disclosure rules classify as a 'specified subsidiary' threshold, meaning Connectia requires Japanese regulatory clearance in addition to OCC final approval before any stablecoin activity can begin. Sony has been explicit that commercial operations are targeted for 2027, and 'no business activities, including the issuance of stablecoins, will be conducted' until every authorization is in place. The bank previously told Nikkei that it wants U.S. customers to use the token to pay for digital content across Sony's ecosystem, trimming the fees that come with card payments. Sony's footprint spans the PlayStation platform and the Crunchyroll anime service, though no major franchise has yet committed to the plan.

Market impact

The global stablecoin market cap sits above $308 billion, according to Yahoo Finance and Decrypt. Sony Bank's move is part of a broader wave of applications for federal trust charters. In December, the OCC conditionally approved Circle, Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets and Paxos, and applications have kept coming, including one from Trump-linked World Liberty Financial. TechTimes reported that the approval landed the same week Circle secured final OCC charter status for its own trust bank. Separately, TradingView reported that World Liberty Financial's trust company received preliminary conditional approval from the OCC to become a bank, with its USD1 stablecoin having a market value of about $4 billion. The OCC decision cited the GENIUS Act, under which permitted payment stablecoin issuers must back every token they mint with 1:1 reserves, cash, insured deposits, or short-term U.S. Treasuries maturing within 93 days. Those reserves earn interest, but the Act prohibits issuers from paying that interest, or any yield, to the people who hold the tokens. TechTimes noted that every dollar a PlayStation user parks in a Sony stablecoin will earn Sony roughly the T-bill rate, while users get fee-free ecosystem payments. Connectia Trust carries $40 million in initial capital, roughly 6.4 billion yen at current exchange rates, which exceeds 10 percent of Sony Financial Group's own capital. No token will exist until at least 2027, and the conditional nod does not let Sony open for business.

Why it matters

The approval matters because it moves Sony Financial Group closer to issuing its own dollar-backed stablecoin, which the bank says is meant to build a 'medium- to long-term business foundation' for its digital-asset business. Sony envisions U.S. customers using the token to pay for video games, anime and subscriptions across its ecosystem, trimming the fees that come with card payments. The push is only viable in the U.S. thanks to the GENIUS Act, the federal law passed last year that set reserve and disclosure rules for dollar-pegged tokens. TechTimes reported that the most consequential detail is a reserve-income business model that the GENIUS Act requires but rarely makes explicit: permitted payment stablecoin issuers must back every token with 1:1 reserves, and those reserves earn interest, but the Act prohibits issuers from paying that interest to token holders. Every dollar a PlayStation user parks in a Sony stablecoin will earn Sony roughly the T-bill rate, while users get fee-free ecosystem payments. The approval also places Sony under a single federal regulator rather than a patchwork of state money-transmitter licenses, according to TechTimes. However, the conditional nod does not let Sony open for business, and the bank must satisfy the OCC's outstanding conditions before its token can launch, currently slated for 2027. The bid has faced pushback from the Independent Community Bankers of America and political heat from Senator Elizabeth Warren.