Circle Internet Group secured a limited purpose trust charter from the New York Department of Financial Services on July 31, 2026, granting its subsidiary Circle Internet Trust Company LLC the authority to provide fiduciary, custody, and asset-management services under New York Banking Law. The charter arrives three weeks after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency gave final approval for Circle to establish a national trust bank, giving the USDC issuer a dual state-federal regulatory footprint that few crypto firms have achieved.
The NYDFS charter is not Circle's first milestone with the New York regulator. In 2015, the company became the first to receive a BitLicense, the state's dedicated license for virtual currency businesses. That early relationship has evolved into a deeper supervisory framework: the limited purpose trust charter allows Circle to hold and safeguard client assets under fiduciary standards, a capability that goes beyond the transmission-focused BitLicense.
"Earning a New York trust charter has been a longstanding objective for Circle given the regulatory clarity that comes with it," said Jeremy Allaire, co-founder, chairman, and CEO. He noted that NYDFS is an international standard-setter for digital asset regulation and that New York serves as Circle's global headquarters.