OpenReserve, an Andreessen Horowitz-backed startup founded by the former CEO of MoneyLion, has won preliminary approval from US regulators to form a national bank built on blockchain rails — becoming the second crypto-focused fintech, alongside Revolut, to clear the same OCC hurdle this week.
By Ana Gonzalez | September 4, 2026
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) granted preliminary conditional approval for OpenReserve to move forward with a proposed national bank in Utah, according to a decision published Wednesday and reported by Cointelegraph. The approval landed alongside a parallel decision greenlighting Revolut’s proposed bank in Connecticut — but OpenReserve’s blueprint is the more radical of the two: a bank designed from the ground up around tokenization.
The Hook: A Blockchain-Based Bank Gets a Federal Green Light
Founded in 2025 by MoneyLion founder and former CEO Dee Choubey, and backed by a16z’s crypto arm, OpenReserve is building what it describes as a blockchain-based bank — traditional banking services offered alongside tokenized deposits and digital asset services. In banking terms, a “tokenized deposit” is a claim on your bank balance that lives on a blockchain, so it can move around the clock and settle instantly, instead of waiting for the banking system’s business hours.
Under the preliminary approval, OpenReserve plans tokenized deposits, digital asset custody, and a subsidiary that would issue US dollar-backed stablecoins — digital tokens pegged one-to-one to the dollar. That stablecoin subsidiary has not yet filed its own application, according to the OCC decision, so it remains a roadmap item rather than a live product.
The OCC’s Crypto Banking Wave
The decision is part of a broader thaw. The same batch of OCC decisions also advanced Revolut’s US bank plans, which include digital asset custody, crypto-linked cross-border transfers and Revolut-branded stablecoins issued by a third party. The OCC said Revolut wants its own US bank to provide services at lower cost and with greater efficiency than its current model, which relies on FDIC-insured partner banks — a structure familiar to anyone who has watched fintechs rent their banking licenses from others.
For OpenReserve, the significance is bigger than one charter. A national bank license means direct access to the US payment system, federal supervision in place of a patchwork of state licenses, and — crucially for a crypto startup — legitimacy that no offshore structure can replicate. Both banks cannot open until they meet the OCC’s pre-opening requirements and receive final approval, a process that typically takes many months and involves raising capital, building compliance systems and passing examinations before a single customer walks in the door.
The Core Conflict: Charter First, Rules Later
The approvals arrive while Congress and regulators are still finalizing the ground rules for payment stablecoins, and OpenReserve’s stablecoin subsidiary remains unfiled. That sequencing — bank charter now, stablecoin application later — mirrors the strategy of larger players. Revolut’s own stablecoin plans sit on a 2027 roadmap, and a separate Cointelegraph report this week noted 21 major financial institutions, including Bank of America, Citi and Goldman Sachs, planning a joint stablecoin venture.
For a startup, the bet is that being inside the federal banking perimeter — with an actual charter — is the moat. Stablecoins issued by nationally chartered banks could have an easier path to regulatory acceptance than tokens issued by unregulated entities, because the issuer is already subject to capital, liquidity and examination requirements.
What This Means for You
Everyday investors will not open an OpenReserve account tomorrow — final approval is still ahead. But the trend line matters. If blockchain-based banks with federal charters start offering tokenized deposits and custody, the wall between your bank account and your crypto wallet gets thinner. Money that moves 24/7, settles instantly and is held at a federally supervised bank is a genuinely different product from funds parked at an offshore exchange.
It also signals how regulators want crypto banking to develop: inside the system, with OCC examiners watching, rather than through offshore loopholes. The contrast with firms still operating through reverse-solicitation structures abroad is stark — and increasingly looks like the losing side of history.
The Verdict
OpenReserve’s preliminary approval is a small step for one startup and a large signal for the industry: the United States is now chartering banks that are designed to be blockchain-native from day one. Between Revolut’s Connecticut charter and OpenReserve’s Utah institution, the OCC has quietly approved two crypto banking blueprints in a single day. The stablecoins, the tokenized deposits and the customers will follow — but only after the slow, unglamorous work of meeting pre-opening requirements is done.
Price snapshot at time of writing (CoinGecko, 17:00 UTC): BTC around 78,289 USD, ETH around 2,491 USD, SOL around 94.90 USD. The cryptocurrency market remains highly volatile. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
a16z gets a national bank charter before my exchange withdrawal clears. second one this week with revolut, the lobby money is working
^ revolut got connecticut the same day. two charters in one week is a signal, not a coincidence
second occ preliminary approval in a week after revolut. a16z getting a national bank pipeline going in utah of all places, wild year
preliminary is doing heavy lifting there. plenty of these approvals die in the organizing phase, ask anyone who followed sofi’s charter saga
sofi took forever but it did close. most charter attempts die from organizing phase burn, the a16z balance sheet makes OpenReserve a different animal
utah is less random than it looks once you remember the industrial bank history there. state charter friendly plus OCC approval is the full arbitrage stack
A former MoneyLion CEO building a tokenized bank in Utah was not on my 2026 bingo card. Preliminary approval still means years of conditions though.
Former MoneyLion CEO building an OCC supervised bank on blockchain rails. The talent migration from traditional fintech into crypto banking is fully underway.
a16z backed and regulator approved. say what you want about vcs, they clocked the charter route years before the dex crowd did
dee choubey going from moneylion to a tokenized national bank is the career arc of this cycle. fintech founders stopped joining crypto, they are chartering banks on top of it