Overview
- In early July 2026 the OCC gave preliminary, conditional approval for Sony Bank to form Connectia Trust, a national trust bank that cannot start business until it meets the OCC’s remaining pre‑opening conditions and secures any other required U.S. and Japanese permissions.
- Connectia Trust will be a New York‑based, wholly owned Sony subsidiary capitalized with $40 million and built to issue and manage dollar‑backed stablecoins while providing custody and reserve management.
- As a national trust bank the entity will not accept cash deposits or make loans, so its role is limited to custody, reserve oversight and token issuance rather than traditional retail banking.
- Sony says the planned stablecoin is intended mainly as a payments rail inside its ecosystem for games, anime, subscriptions and other digital content, and it has partnered with Bastion Platforms for issuance, reserve and custody support.
- The approval follows a wave of OCC conditional charters for other firms and has drawn objections from banking and community groups and lawmakers, a development that could shape how federal regulators set rules for stablecoin issuers.