Mone Bank, a Texas-based community bank, has officially announced its entry into the crypto lending and digital asset banking space, replacing the US crypto-only bank.
The bank, owned by billionaire businessman Andy Beal and a prominent supporter of President Donald Trump, positions itself as an “infrastructure bank for digital assets.” According to official records, the bank has assets of just under $6 billion and capital of about $1 billion.
Monet Bank’s website states that it aims to be “a leading digital asset financial institution committed to providing innovative and forward-thinking solutions for the digital economy.” Founded in 1988 as Beer Savings Bank, the bank changed its name to XD Bank for the first time this year, and rebranded to Mone Bank two months later. The bank is FDIC-regulated, has six branches, and appears to have completed an organizational transformation around digital assets.
The bank’s owner, Andy Beal, is not only the founder of Beal Financial Corporation, but is also known for his extensive financial support of Donald Trump during the 2016 election.
Monet Bank joins a small number of U.S. banks aiming to serve the cryptocurrency industry. In October, the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) granted a conditional banking license to technology-focused Erebor Bank. Erebor is backed by Peter Thiel, founder of Founders Fund and an investor in CoinDesk’s parent company Bullish. Meanwhile, this week, former Signature Bank executives launched N3XT, a small-cap cryptocurrency bank operating in Wyoming under a Special Purpose Depository Institution (SPDI) license. N3XT aims to process payments instantly through a private blockchain network.
*This is not investment advice.
