Crypto lender Nexo gets U.S. bank charter after buying stake in regulated bank

cnbc.com:

Cryptocurrency lender Nexo on Tuesday announced it has taken a stake in a federally-regulated U.S. bank, paving the way for the company to offer banking services to Americans as a licensed institution.

Nexo, based in Zug, Switzerland, said it has agreed to buy an undisclosed stake in Hulett Bancorp, which owns a little-known bank called Summit National Bank. Through Summit National Bank, which holds a federal bank charter with the Office Comptroller of the Currency, Nexo plans to offer a range of products including checking accounts and crypto-backed loans.

The move is a significant development for the nascent crypto industry, which is seeking to win favor with politicians and regulators as investment and adoption of digital assets grows. The market has been licking its wounds following the collapse of controversial token terraUSD, which sparked a wave of liquidations and failures of companies like Celsius and Three Arrows Capital.

Nexo declined to disclose the size of its stake in Summit National Bank. The firm called the deal an «industry-changing transaction.» On top of the ability to launch new products, Nexo said its bank license would bring users enhanced legal safeguards. The deal will also help Nexo expand its footprint in the U.S., the company said.

«We already have a robust offering with regard to our crypto-backed loans but we always like to have more than one option for providing a particular service,» Antoni Trenchev, co-founder of Nexo, told CNBC.

«The acquisition of a stake in a full-fledged bank enables us to offer our complete range of services to U.S. retail and institutional clients, including bank accounts, asset-backed loans, card programs, as well as escrow and custodial solutions, and many other