US regulators gave OpenReserve early approval to charter a national bank

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. 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.

What the Approval Requires

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. OpenReserve must raise the capital within 12 months of conditional approval and begin banking operations within 18 months, or the approval will expire. 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.

The proposed full-service bank, which raised a $25 million seed round led by @a16zcrypto, is being built to offer tokenized deposits and digital asset custody, with a planned subsidiary for stablecoin issuance. 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.

A Broader Shift in US Crypto Banking

@OpenReserveBank 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. Founded in 2025 by Diwakar Choubey and Richard Correia, OpenReserve says it is being built around a programmable core ledger and native onchain settlement. 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.

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. 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. OpenReserve filed its OCC charter application in April 2026, winning preliminary approval in under five months.

Sources:
The Block: Andreessen Horowitz-backed OpenReserve secures preliminary OCC approval for national bank charter
Decrypt: A16z-Backed OpenReserve Gets Approval for Full-Service National Bank
Crypto.news: OpenReserve wins initial OCC approval for U.S. bank