Monet Bank, a small Texas community bank owned by a billionaire political backer of President Donald Trump, has branched out into cryptocurrency lending, describing itself as an “infrastructure bank” focused on digital assets. According to its website, “Monet is committed to being the premier digital asset financial institution, providing innovative and forward-thinking solutions for the digital economy.” The institution will be considered a very small community bank, although it has less than $6 billion in assets and just over $1 billion in capital, according to state records.
The Texas bank, which opened in 1988 as Beal Savings Bank, changed its name to XD Bank earlier this year and Monet Bank two months later. The state-chartered institution is regulated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and has six offices, according to federal data.
Andy Beal, founder of Beal Financial Corp., is a high-level poker player who was a major supporter of Trump’s successful 2016 presidential campaign and funded his own political action committee. News of Bank Monet’s shift in focus toward digital assets was first reported by The Information earlier on Friday.
It joins a slowly growing field of banks aiming to serve the cryptocurrency industry. In October, the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) granted a conditional license to Erebor Bank, a tech-focused startup backed by Founders Fund’s Peter Thiel (who also invested in CoinDesk parent Bullish). Earlier this week, a former Signature Bank executive launched N3XT, a narrow bank chartered as a Wyoming special purpose depository institution that it says will settle payments instantly via a private blockchain.
The shift comes amid broader changes in how federal bank regulators treat cryptocurrencies. Since Trump took office, his regulators have withdrawn existing guidance warning banks under their supervision to handle cryptocurrencies with caution and issued new guidance aimed at giving the cryptocurrency industry better access to banking services.
FDIC Acting Chairman Travis Hill told lawmakers that the agency also expects to propose crypto industry rules — related to the stablecoin-focused GENIUS Act — at a hearing earlier this week.
Beale’s company did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent to the media hotline of its affiliate Beale Bank.