Crypto Bank OpenReserve Wins Full OCC National Charter, Targets Fedwire Dead Zone

OpenReserve Bank, a blockchain-native startup backed by Andreessen Horowitz and a roster of crypto-industry investors, received preliminary conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on September 3 to establish a full-service national bank — a milestone that stands apart from the wave of trust charters that have defined the OCC's crypto-approval spree, and one that is specifically designed to keep money moving during the hours when the U.S. banking system goes dark. The approval arrives as the OCC, under Comptroller Jonathan Gould, simultaneously granted a similar nod to Revolut, underscoring that the agency is processing crypto-adjacent bank applications in volume rather than one at a time.

What Makes OpenReserve's Charter Different From Every Other Crypto Approval

Most of the attention surrounding the OCC's crypto-chartering push has focused on national trust bank charters — limited-purpose licenses that allow companies like Circle, Ripple, Coinbase, and Paxos to provide custody and settlement services under federal supervision. Those charters are significant, but they carry a hard constraint: they cannot accept insured deposits or make conventional loans. They give crypto firms a federal license; they do not make those firms banks in the full consumer-facing sense. Sources confirm the December 2025 trust charter approvals were the first time the regulator approved multiple crypto-native firms simultaneously.