PlayStation, Spider-Man, anime — and now stablecoins. Sony Bank received conditional approval from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish Connectia Trust, a New York-based national trust subsidiary capitalized at $40 million.
The logic is straightforward: American customers could use a Sony-issued dollar stablecoin to pay for games on PlayStation Store, anime subscriptions, music streaming, and other digital content across the Sony Group ecosystem. For the conglomerate itself, the token would accelerate cross-border treasury settlements without depending on traditional correspondent banking.
An OCC trust bank charter is a specific class of license — no deposits, no loans — but it allows the holder to custody digital assets and issue tokens. Sony joins the queue behind Ripple, Circle, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos, all of which hold conditional approvals. BitGo became the first to receive full approval in December 2025.
The timing is deliberate. The US Senate is moving toward finalizing the Genius Act, which would create the first federal framework for payment stablecoins. Monthly stablecoin transaction volume globally has reached $1.79 trillion, and major corporations are staking positions before the rules solidify.
Final launch is planned for 2027, pending full OCC sign-off and approval from Japanese regulators. For a company traditionally associated with hardware and entertainment, the push into regulated dollar stablecoins is a clear signal about where digital payments are heading — and who wants to own that infrastructure.
