OpenReserve wins preliminary OCC approval for a national bank charter
DeFi & Yields ·
The startup, backed by Andreessen Horowitz, is seeking to become a blockchain-native national bank built for onchain settlement.
OpenReserve Holdings has received preliminary approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to operate as a national bank, according to The Block. The approval comes after the company closed a $25 million seed round and positions it to pursue full banking status rather than the narrower trust-bank structure many crypto firms have used to date.
According to Decrypt, OpenReserve opted for a full national charter instead of the trust-bank path that most crypto-focused applicants have pursued when seeking federal recognition. A full national bank charter would allow the company broader banking powers than a trust charter, which is typically limited to fiduciary and custody activities rather than general banking operations.
OpenReserve describes itself as a blockchain-native continuous banking platform. Its $25 million seed round was led by a16z crypto, with participation from Coinbase Ventures and other investors, according to the cluster's reporting. The OCC's conditional approval marks a step in a formal chartering process that still requires additional regulatory steps before a charter is fully granted.
The move is being tracked as part of a broader pattern of regulators engaging with crypto-native firms seeking bank charters, as noted in coverage from leviathan.news. The preliminary nature of the approval means OpenReserve has cleared an early hurdle but has not yet received a final charter to operate as a national bank.
What remains unclear is the timeline for final OCC approval, the specific onchain settlement activities the bank would be permitted to conduct once chartered, and whether other crypto-native applicants will follow a similar full-charter route rather than the trust-bank model. The company's seed funding details, including the full investor list, have not been independently detailed beyond the cluster's reporting.