Monet Bank, a small Texas community bank owned by a billionaire political supporter of President Donald Trump, has moved into the crypto lender space, billing itself as an “infrastructure bank” focused on digital assets. “Monet strives to become the leading digital asset financial institution, providing innovative and forward-looking solutions for the digital economy,” according to its website. Although with less than $6 billion in assets and just over $1 billion in capital, according to state records, the institution would be considered a very small community bank.
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-profile poker player and a key backer of Trump’s successful 2016 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 group 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 company backed by Founders Fund’s Peter Thiel (who is also invested in CoinDesk’s parent company, Bullish). And earlier this week, former Signature Bank executives launched N3XT, a small bank licensed as a Wyoming special purpose depository institution that says it will settle payments instantly via a private blockchain.
This change is part of a broader shift in how federal banking regulators approach crypto. Since Trump took office, his regulators have withdrawn existing guidance warning banks under their supervision to exercise caution in handling crypto and issued new guidance aimed at giving the crypto industry better access to banking services.
Acting FDIC Chairman Travis Hill told lawmakers his agency also plans to propose rules for the crypto industry — related 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.
