Ripple Adds 'Always-On' Returns as Its Trust Bank Wins Final OCC Approval

Ripple announced new capabilities for Ripple Treasury at Swell 2026, its annual conference that ran from October 27–29 in New York. The update adds an orchestration layer that works with GSmart, Ripple's treasury AI, and a feature called 24/7 Returns, which lets eligible corporate customers earn returns on qualifying digital assets, including RLUSD, held in a Ripple wallet.

On Tuesday, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said in an X post that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) had granted final approval for Ripple National Trust Bank. The OCC gave conditional approval in December 2025. The bank will manage the segregated reserves backing RLUSD, act as collateral trustee for holders and provide fiduciary custody. RLUSD will keep being issued by Standard Custody & Trust Company, Ripple's limited-purpose trust company regulated by New York's financial regulator.

Ripple describes 24/7 Returns as a way to put operating cash to work overnight, on weekends and over holidays, without customers independently managing the underlying digital asset transactions. Participation is subject to program requirements.

The orchestration layer coordinates workflows across cash positioning, forecasting, reconciliation, liquidity management and payments. Ripple Treasury's website says customers can run each workflow manually, semi-autonomously or fully autonomously.

The release says the platform is designed to enable businesses including American Airlines, Trax, Christian Louboutin, Subway, Adecco and Kingfisher to manage cash around the clock. However, it does not say whether any of the named companies use 24/7 Returns.

The GENIUS Act bars permitted stablecoin issuers from paying holders interest or yield solely for holding, using or retaining a stablecoin. The OCC's final rule, issued on October 21 and effective January 18, 2027, kept that ban . It said yield paid by an issuer's agent remains prohibited, and it dropped a proposed presumption against affiliate and related third-party arrangements in favor of case-by-case review.

That rule covers issuers under the OCC's jurisdiction and custody by OCC-supervised entities, and RLUSD's issuer is state-regulated. The announcement does not yet specify the rate, source of return, counterparty, legal structure, eligibility criteria, markets or start date. Blockhead asked Ripple about these points, and the company did not respond before publication.

Ripple's local subsidiary, Ripple Markets APAC, had the scope of its MAS payment licence expanded in December to cover services involving digital payment tokens such as RLUSD and XRP, and Ripple joined MAS's BLOOM initiative in March for a trade finance pilot.

The treasury business traces to Ripple's $1 billion GTreasury acquisition last October. Ripple has been expanding its round-the-clock offerings in recent weeks: Blockhead covered Ripple Prime's 24/7 swaps on October 16 and this week looked at demand for round-the-clock perpetuals . RLUSD's market capitalization has grown from $1.57 billion in March to about $2.5 billion in recent reports.

The rate, the structure and the rules for autonomous mode are details treasurers will likely want before considering RLUSD for an investment policy.