Overview
- Sony Bank received preliminary conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on July 6 to form Connectia Trust, a New York national trust bank planned to manage dollar-denominated stablecoins.
- The planned trust will be a wholly owned subsidiary capitalized with $40 million and designed as a narrow-purpose bank that will not take deposits or make loans but will handle issuance, custody, reserve management, transfers, and redemptions.
- Connectia Trust cannot begin operations or issue any tokens until it satisfies the OCC’s remaining pre-opening conditions and obtains any required Japanese and other regulatory clearances, with a commercial launch currently targeted for 2027 if approvals arrive.
- Sony has named Bastion Platforms as an infrastructure partner to support issuance, reserve management and custody services for the proposed stablecoin.
- The approval follows a broader wave of OCC trust-charter moves and has drawn objections from banking trade groups, community organizations and some lawmakers while the stablecoin market remains concentrated with USDT and USDC dominating supply.