On July 1st (UTC+8), stablecoin giant Circle is seeking to establish the First National Digital Currency Bank (NA) and has formally applied to the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a national trust license, hoping to be directly regulated by the federal government nationwide to further conduct its USDC issuance, custody, and payment business in compliance. Circle stated that this will help provide stronger regulatory protection for institutional clients and promote the adoption of stablecoins globally. USDC is the second-largest stablecoin by market cap, with a total value of over $61.0 billion in circulating U.S. dollar-pegged tokens, and is widely used for trading, cross-border payments, and on-chain settlement. This move is another key step by Circle to promote stablecoins into the mainstream financial system, following its listing application to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last month, and is expected to attract more traditional financial institutions to cooperate with it in the future. (Source: Decrypt) [MetaEra]