Crypto Startup Metal Pay Files for National Bank Charter

Peer-to-peer crypto payments platform Metal Pay has filed to become a national bank in the U.S.

The startup filed a charter application for “First Blockchain Bank and Trust, N.A.” with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) on Feb. 3, CEO Marshall Hayner told CoinDesk. Its trust company would be incorporated in Rapid City, South Dakota.

Metal Pay will shortly file applications with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Hayner said.

“This would be the first FDIC-insured crypto bank,” Hayner said, adding depository insurance would give First Blockchain a leg up in banking institutional clients. That insurance would only apply to cash deposits, however.

This story is developing and will be updated.