Sony Stablecoin? Electronics Giant Seeks U.S. Banking Licence to Offer Crypto Services

Sony Bank, the banking division of Japanese consumer electronics giant Sony, has filed an application with the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a national trust charter allowing it to offer crypto banking services in the US via its subsidiary, Connectia Trust.

Sony Bank’s application shows that Connectia Trust would initially only engage in “digital asset related activities.” 

If Sony Bank’s application is approved, it would become one of the first large, global corporations to issue its own US dollar-backed stablecoin through a fully regulated institution. 

It continues an emerging trend of corporations seeking federal approval in the US to offer crypto banking services. Several TradFi and web3 companies, including the likes of Coinbase, Ripple, Paxos, Stripe, Circle, Fidelity and Anchorage Digital, have filed applications seeking regulatory clearance. 

Of these applicants, so far only Anchorage Digital has received a full OCC charter, which was granted way back in January 2021, making it the first federally-chartered digital bank in US history.

The OCC has become friendlier to the crypto industry since the appointment of its new leader, Jonathon Gould, in April. Gould is himself a former crypto executive, having previously served as Chief Legal Officer at blockchain technology company, Bitfury.

Following Gould’s appointment, the OCC in May issued new guidance clarifying that banks could now “buy and sell assets held in custody on a customer’s behalf at the direction of the customer and in a manner consistent with the customer agreement and applicable law.”

Related: Coinbase Seeks Federal Trust Charter to Bolster Regulatory Standing

Banking Play Just Latest Crypto Move by Sony

Sony Bank’s application for a crypto banking charter is not Sony’s first foray into digital assets. Last year, the electronics giant launched a dedicated blockchain arm, named Sony Blockchain Solutions Lab (SBL), tasked with developing new blockchain-based products. 

The most notable creation of SBL so far is Sony’s Ethereum layer 2 network Soneium, developed in partnership with Startale Labs, the team behind the Astar Network. 

Soneium launched in January of 2025 and came under immediate scrutiny for its relatively heavy-handed approach to censorship, with some memecoins being completely banned from the network.

“Sony’s new Ethereum L2 is actively blacklisting memecoins they don’t like, instantly nuking everyone’s position to 0 what makes you think that other centralized L2s won’t do the same if push comes to shove? don’t take your freedoms for granted,” founder of Pump.fun, Alon, warned his followers on X / Twitter.

Related: Censorship Concerns Mar Launch of Sony Blockchain ‘Soneium’

However, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin argued that the centrally-censored network was “a good live demonstration of how launching an ethereum L2 is great for businesses *and* users.” He added: “whatever rules they choose, that’s what the rules are. Everything is onchain, transparent, and auditable by third parties.”