Monet Bank, a small community bank in Texas owned by a billionaire political supporter of President Donald Trump, has entered the field of crypto lenders, billing itself as an “infrastructure bank” focused on digital assets. “Monet is focused on being the leading financial institution for digital assets, providing innovative and forward-looking solutions for the digital economy,” according to its website. Although with less than $6 billion in assets and slightly more than $1 billion in capital, the institution would be considered a very small community bank, according to state records.
The Texas lender opened in 1988 as Beal Savings Bank and earlier this year changed its name to XD Bank before changing again two months later to Monet Bank. The state-chartered institution is regulated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and has six offices, according to federal data.
Owner Andy Beal, who founded Beal Financial Corp., is known as a high-level poker player and a major 2016 backer of Trump’s successful presidential campaign, having funded his own political action committee. The Information first reported Monet Bank’s shift to focus on digital assets earlier Friday.
It joins a slowly growing field of banks aiming to serve the crypto industry. In October, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) granted a conditional charter to Erebor Bank, a new technology-focused firm backed by Founders Fund’s Peter Thiel (which is also invested in CoinDesk parent company Bullish. And earlier this week, former Signature Bank executives launched N3XT, a narrow depository institution that says a narrow depository institution. settle payments instantly through a private blockchain.
The shift comes amid a broader change in how federal banking regulators approach crypto. Since Trump took office, his regulators have withdrawn existing guidance warning banks under their supervision to be careful in handling crypto and issued new guidance aimed at giving the crypto industry better access to banking services.
FDIC Acting Chairman Travis Hill told lawmakers his agency also expected to propose regulations for the crypto industry — tied to the stablecoin-focused GENIUS Act — during a hearing earlier this week.
Beal’s company did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent to a media line at its subsidiary, Beal Bank.
