Circle now has a federal bank charter. However, the charter provides no ordinary checking accounts, FDIC-insured savings accounts, or mortgages.

Circle National Trust is part of a new federal cohort built around custody, fiduciary administration, stablecoin reserves, and settlement.

Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, Paxos, Bridge, Crypto.com, Coinbase, Morgan Stanley and World Liberty Financial have all received some form of Office of the Comptroller of the Currency approval since December. Most are still completing conditions required before opening.

Washington is giving crypto companies the regulatory shell of banking while separating it from the business model Americans usually associate with a bank. The result is a narrow…