Monet Bank, a small Texas community bank owned by a billionaire political supporter of President Donald Trump, has entered the cryptocurrency lender arena, billing itself as an “infrastructure bank” focused on digital assets. “Monet is focused on being the leading digital asset financial institution, providing innovative and cutting-edge 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 Corporation 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 major backer of Trump’s successful 2016 presidential campaign, having funded his own political action committee. The Information first reported on Monet Bank’s shift to focus on digital assets early 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 conditional status to Erebor Bank, a new technology-focused firm backed by Peter Thiel of Founders Fund (which also invests in CoinDesk parent Bullish). And earlier this week, former Signature Bank executives launched N3XT, a narrow bank chartered as a Wyoming special purpose depository institution that says it will settle payments instantly via a private blockchain.
The change comes amid a broader shift in how federal banking regulators approach cryptocurrencies. Since Trump took office, his regulators have withdrawn existing guidelines warning banks under their supervision to be careful about handling cryptocurrencies and issued new guidelines aimed at allowing the cryptocurrency industry to better access banking services.
Acting FDIC Chairman Travis Hill told lawmakers that his agency also hoped to propose rules for the cryptocurrency 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 for its subsidiary, Beal Bank.
