OpenReserve wins conditional US national bank approval

OpenReserve has received preliminary conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to charter a national bank. The approval covers OpenReserve Bank in organization.

The decision allows the company to keep building a full-service national bank that would combine conventional banking services with onchain settlement within a federally supervised structure. The bank cannot begin operations until it meets preopening requirements and receives final approval from the regulator.

The proposed institution is intended for businesses and financial institutions that need to move and manage capital with greater continuity, visibility, and control. Planned offerings include commercial and retail lending, treasury management, deposit products in traditional and tokenized form, and stablecoin infrastructure for global capital markets.

The bank is being designed to bring onchain settlement within the boundaries of a regulated national bank rather than leaving those functions outside the banking system. The model is also intended to reduce fragmentation across financial systems while keeping banking activities separate from affiliated operations.

The approval marks an early but important stage in a process that places OpenReserve under the same supervisory framework, capital expectations, and safety standards that apply to national banks in the United States. The preliminary decision does not authorize the bank to open or signal approval of any individual product or technology.

OpenReserve also disclosed seed funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Jump Capital, Acrew, Coinbase Ventures, Wintermute Ventures, Clocktower, Quona, AAF Management, and Zero Knowledge Ventures. It did not disclose the amount raised.

Build-out phase

During the pre-opening period, the group expects to continue expanding its executive leadership, governance, risk management, compliance, capital, technology, and operating model. Any eventual products or services will remain subject to regulatory requirements, final product design, customer eligibility, and operational readiness.

The proposed bank comes as digital asset businesses and financial technology groups continue to seek ways to place blockchain-based payment and settlement tools within established regulatory frameworks. OpenReserve's approach centres on creating a bank structure in which tokenised deposits and stablecoin-related services sit alongside more traditional banking lines.

Dee Choubey, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of OpenReserve Bank in organisation, described the decision as an early step in a longer process.

"Preliminary conditional approval to charter a de novo national bank is a privilege our team does not take lightly. It is a significant milestone and the beginning of the most demanding phase of the work," said Choubey, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of OpenReserve Bank in organisation.

He said the bank's regulatory path reflects the company's broader model for integrating blockchain-based settlement into a supervised institution.

"We chose the national bank path deliberately. Supervision, safety and soundness, compliance, and customer confidence are not constraints on what we are building; they are the foundation of it. We are grateful for the rigor of the OCC's review and will approach every preopening requirement with the same discipline," said Choubey.

In a separate comment, he put the effort in context with earlier technological shifts in US banking.

"American banking has always advanced by bringing new technology inside the regulated system rather than around it, from the founding of the national banking system, to electronic clearing, to the card networks. Programmable, onchain settlement is the next chapter, and we believe it should be written by a chartered national bank under federal supervision," said Choubey.

He added that OpenReserve sees the proposed bank as long-term financial infrastructure built within the US system.

"OpenReserve Bank (in organization) is our contribution to that tradition: durable financial infrastructure, built in the United States, to standards the world can rely on," said Choubey.

Customer focus

Richard Correia, the company's Co-founder and President, said the target market is businesses operating across borders and time zones. He said the bank is being structured around an onchain ledger intended to connect payments, financing, and treasury activity in a single framework.

"Our prospective customers run global businesses that operate continuously, and there is real capital to unlock when their bank works the same way," said Correia, Co-founder and President of OpenReserve Bank in organisation. "That is what we are building: one unified onchain ledger inside a national bank, where payments settle instantly in any market, the assets a company already owns can be financed against that same ledger, and every asset becomes working capital rather than a line item. Our Forward Deployed Solutions team works alongside customers, integrating OpenReserve Bank (in organization) where their business actually runs. That is the first continuous bank."