April

insurance

Shift

Richard

Bank

<p><cite>OpenReserve Bank, backed by Andreessen Horowitz among other investors, received preliminary conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on September 2 to charter a full-service national bank in Salt Lake City, Utah.</cite> The move marks a significant step for the blockchain-native startup, though a number of conditions must be met before it can open for business.</p><h2 id="what-the-approval-requires">What the Approval Requires</h2><p><cite>The proposed bank must raise at least $210 million in initial paid-in capital, net of organizational and preopening expenses, and maintain a Tier 1 leverage ratio of at least 12% during its first three years of operation.</cite><cite>OpenReserve must raise the capital within 12 months of conditional approval and begin banking operations within 18 months, or the approval will expire.</cite><cite>Before commencing operations, OpenReserve must also satisfy the OCC's preopening requirements and receive final approval, as well as obtain FDIC deposit insurance and apply for Federal Reserve Bank stock.</cite></p><p><cite>The proposed full-service bank, which raised a $25 million seed round led by <a href="https://x.com/a16zcrypto" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">@a16zcrypto</a>, is being built to offer tokenized deposits and digital asset custody, with a planned subsidiary for stablecoin issuance.</cite><cite>The OCC letter notes the proposed bank plans to establish a wholly owned subsidiary for the issuance, custody, conversion, and payment of U.S. dollar-denominated reserve-backed stablecoins, though the subsidiary has not yet filed an application with the regulator.</cite></p><h2 id="a-broader-shift-in-us-crypto-banking">A Broader Shift in US Crypto Banking</h2><p><cite><a href="https://x.com/OpenReserveBank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">@OpenReserveBank</a> chose a full national charter over the trust-bank route most crypto firms have taken, clearing a path toward insured deposits and conventional lending alongside stablecoin issuance.</cite><cite>Founded in 2025 by Diwakar Choubey and Richard Correia, OpenReserve says it is being built around a programmable core ledger and native onchain settlement.</cite><cite>The OCC's preliminary approval provides a regulatory path for the bank to issue a digital dollar-linked asset designed to support transactions and settlement outside conventional banking hours.</cite></p><p><cite>The OCC's decision follows a string of conditional approvals for crypto-focused institutions under Comptroller Jonathan Gould, who has said entities engaging in novel technologies should have a pathway to become federally supervised banks.</cite><cite>The agency has granted conditional approvals for national trust bank charters to crypto firms including Coinbase, Paxos, BitGo, Ripple, and Circle, while Revolut also received a similar nod on the same day as OpenReserve.</cite><cite>OpenReserve filed its OCC charter application in April 2026, winning preliminary approval in under five months.</cite></p><p><strong>Sources:</strong><br><a href="https://www.theblock.co/news/regulation/2026-09-04-andreessen-horowitz-backed-openreserve-secures-preliminary-occ-approval-for-national-bank-charter-413528" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">The Block: Andreessen Horowitz-backed OpenReserve secures preliminary OCC approval for national bank charter</a><br><a href="https://decrypt.co/377458/openreserve-occ-approval-full-service-national-bank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Decrypt: A16z-Backed OpenReserve Gets Approval for Full-Service National Bank</a><br><a href="https://crypto.news/openreserve-wins-initial-occ-approval-for-u-s-bank/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Crypto.news: OpenReserve wins initial OCC approval for U.S. bank</a></p>

US regulators gave OpenReserve early approval to charter a national bank

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