Bastion has received preliminary conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a national trust bank charter. The approval allows the stablecoin infrastructure provider to offer custody, payment infrastructure, and white-label issuance services under federal regulation. The charter adds OCC supervision to Bastion's existing state licenses. Bastion acquired its New York trust charter in February 2025. Under the new charter, the company will provide fiduciary custody of USDC and other compliant digital assets, plus white-label stablecoin wallet and issuance services. Bastion appointed four new advisors and board members, including former senior executives from American Express, Morgan Stanley, EY, and Optum. The company is backed by Andreessen Horowitz and Coinbase Ventures, and already partners with Sony Bank.

Ex-PayPal chief david Marcus launches stablecoin platform to take on traditional banking rails. Tuesday, 28/04/2026 | 13:33 GMT-7 by Jared Kirui * Lightspark's Grid Global Accounts compete with stablecoin-native platforms like Stripe's Bridge, Agora, and Bastion. * Meta's Libra (later Diem) failed after regulatory pushback, leading to its shutdown in 2022. David Marcus, the former President of PayPal and the executive who led Meta's shelved Libra digital currency project, is making a new push to rebuild banking on stablecoin rails. He now runs Lightspark, which has unveiled an API-based product that gives platforms and AI agents access to dollar accounts, payments and cards on top of Bitcoin and stablecoin infrastructure. The latest offering launch pushes Banking-as-a-Service into the stablecoin era, giving platforms and AI agents access to dollar accounts, payments and cards over Bitcoin-based rails instead of traditional bank stacks. The move marks a new phase in Marcus's long-running effort to make money move like internet data, and it comes as regulators and businesses start to treat stablecoins and agent-driven interfaces as mainstream infrastructure. Onchain BaaS for platforms and agents. According to a Tuesday's post, Marcus explained that the product lets companies offer branded dollar accounts, stablecoin balances, yield, payments and cards, with Bitcoin and stablecoins handling settlement in the background rather than sponsor-bank sub-ledgers. In practical terms, Lightspark's Grid Global Accounts compete most directly with emerging stablecoin-native banking stacks that let platforms embed accounts, payments and yield behind an API. Offerings around Stripe's Bridge, Agora and Bastion, for example, focus on either white-label stablecoin issuance, enterprise stablecoin infrastructure, or stablecoin payments that settle into fiat balances. Lightspark built the accounts on top of its Grid network and Spark, a Bitcoin Layer 2 that supports stablecoin issuance and low-cost transactions while remaining compatible with Lightning. The firm already connects to real-time and domestic payment systems in over 65 countries and works with partners such as Cross River Bank to support 24/7 fiat settlement via RTP, FedNow and multi-rail infrastructure. "Marcus has THE most fascinating back story: Former CEO of PayPal, has moved money traditionally, and is behind Libra at Meta a global bank account and "stablecoin" that regulators pushed back on," Simon Taylor, the Founder of FintechBrainfood observed. "Now this is a global stablecoin bank account distributed through an API, post-GENIUS Act, sold to businesses and machines." Marcus positions the launch as an alternative to classic BaaS architectures built on middleware, card processors and FBO accounts at sponsor banks. He argues that in the legacy model, platforms build user relationships but lose fees and data to intermediaries each time money moves, while under the new model they keep yield, interchange and FX margin alongside transactional intelligence. Regulatory clarity and AI agents shape the timing. Lightspark's announcement leans on a changed regulatory and technology backdrop compared with Marcus's earlier Libra attempt at Meta. Since then, the US GENIUS Act has created a federal framework for payment stablecoins, and MiCA has taken effect in the EU, giving enterprises clearer rules on issuance, reserves and supervision. Meta's Libra project, which Marcus led before it rebranded to Diem, never made it to full launch after intense pushback from regulators and policymakers around the world. Facebook announced Libra in 2019 as a global stablecoin backed by a basket of currencies and governed by the Libra Association, but the plan quickly drew scrutiny from US and European authorities over monetary sovereignty, financial stability and data concerns, prompting high-profile backers such as Visa, Mastercard and PayPal to walk away. Under pressure, the initiative pivoted to a narrower model of single-currency stablecoins and rebranded as Diem, yet it still failed to secure regulatory comfort; by early 2022 the Diem Association agreed to sell its intellectual property and other assets to Silvergate Capital for about 182 million dollars, effectively winding down the project and forcing Meta to shut its linked Novi wallet pilot later that year. Jared Kirui is an Editor at Finance Magnates with more than five years of experience in financial journalism. He covers online trading, fintech, payments, and crypto industries with a focus on companies, regulation and compliance, executive moves, trading technology, and market analysis. His work has been featured in other media outlets, including Benzinga, ZyCrypto, The Distributed, and The Daily Hodl. Education: Bachelor of Commerce degree (Finance option), University of Nairobi * 2779 Articles * 54 Followers

Dotfile, an AI platform for anti-money laundering compliance, has partnered with Bastion, a regulated stablecoin services provider, to deliver enterprise-scale onboarding and risk management for branded stablecoin programmes. Bastion operates as one of 13 limited purpose trust companies under New York's regulatory framework. The partnership provides comprehensive verification for institutional and individual users globally, automated sanctions screening and document verification using AI, and compliance across multiple jurisdictions. The solution targets large brands exploring branded stablecoins for treasury management and consumer payments. Dotfile currently generates roughly a quarter of its revenue from the US and expects to reach approximately half within 18 months. The company serves over 80 financial institutions across 15 countries and reports threefold year-over-year revenue growth.