TL;DR
- Payoneer filed with the OCC to create PAYO Digital Bank, enabling stablecoin receive/send, PAYO-USD issuance, and digital-asset custody.
- The national trust bank charter would place operations under federal supervision, replacing a state patchwork and strengthening governance for counterparties.
- The move follows GENIUS Act momentum and recent conditional OCC approvals for Crypto.com, Bridge, Ripple, Circle, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos, as regulators implement the law through rulemaking.
Payoneer is moving to formalize its digital-asset strategy by filing an application with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish PAYO Digital Bank, N.A. The headline shift is a bid for federal oversight paired with a stablecoin launch plan. If approved, the proposed national trust bank charter would let Payoneer receive and transmit stablecoins, issue its own dollar-backed PAYO-USD token, and offer digital-asset custody. CEO John Caplan said stablecoins will play a meaningful role in the future of global trade. It framed the move as an extension of its cross-border payments franchise.
Federal charter and PAYO-USD rollout
A national trust bank charter would place PAYO Digital Bank under federal supervision rather than a patchwork of state regulators, and it would authorize the firm to custody and safeguard client assets. The operating thesis is to deliver compliant stablecoin rails and custody in one regulated perimeter. Payoneer said the charter would support receiving and transmitting stablecoins for customers, while adding an issuer capability through PAYO-USD. For compliance teams, the differentiator is governance: clearer supervisory expectations, standardized reporting, and a bank-style control framework built for scale. It is to simplify counterparty due diligence and oversight.
Payoneer is joining a crowded charter pipeline as more firms pursue national trust bank status following last summer’s passage of the GENIUS Act, which provides federal guidelines for issuing stablecoins. Momentum is being validated by a string of conditional OCC approvals across crypto and fintech. Payoneer cited recent conditional approval for Crypto.com and Stripe subsidiary Bridge. It also pointed to a broader December batch in which the OCC granted conditional approval to Ripple, Circle, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos. The trend signals intensifying competition for federally supervised distribution. Race is reshaping go-to-market timelines now.
Regulators are now working to implement parts of the GENIUS Act through rulemaking, and Payoneer said the new law strengthens its ability to expand into digital assets. The strategic promise is stablecoin innovation embedded into day-to-day SMB operations at global scale. If approved, the company said PAYO Digital Bank would let it leverage the framework to bring stablecoin functionality to small and medium-sized businesses worldwide through a federally supervised trust bank. For investors, the next milestones are charter progress, product rollout for PAYO-USD, and execution against cross-border use cases. The filing marks a scope pivot.
