Nubank has received conditional approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish a national bank, which allows the fintech to offer deposits, loans, credit cards and custody of digital assets in the United States.
The approval brings Nubank into the bank organization phase, during which it must meet capitalization and supervisory conditions and obtain additional approvals from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Federal Reserve before commencing operations.
According to A business As announced on Friday, the American bank will be headed by co-founder Cristina Junqueira, and the chairman of the board will be former president of the Central Bank of Brazil, Roberto Campos Neto. Nubank said it intended to fully recapitalize and open the bank within 18 months, subject to regulatory approval.
Nubank operates primarily in Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, serving more than 127 million customers across countries, according to the company. It was founded in 2013 and has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange since 2021.
In recent years, fintech has steadily expanded into digital assets.
The company entered the cryptocurrency market in 2022 after partnering with Paxos to allow customers to buy, sell and store cryptocurrencies directly within the app. At that time, the company also revealed plans to allocate approximately 1% of its net assets to Bitcoin (BTC).
In March, Nubank expanded its cryptocurrency offering in Brazil, adding Cardano (ADA), Near Protocol (NEAR), Cosmos (ATOM), and Algorand (ALGO) to its trading offering, bringing the total number of supported tokens to 20.
In September, it announced plans to test stablecoin payments tied to credit cards as part of an effort to integrate digital assets with classic banking services.
Related: Capital One bank buys fintech stablecoin Brex for $5.15 billion
Fintechs and crypto companies are applying for banking licenses in the US
Nubank’s push for a U.S. banking charter reflects a broader trend among fintech and cryptocurrency companies toward regulated banking licenses.
Issuer Stablecoin Circle and crypto company Ripple Labs received conditional approval approval with the OCC in December to create the U.S. National Trust Banks. The agency also approved the transformation of BitGo Bank & Trust, Fidelity Digital Assets and Paxos Trust Company into national trust banks,
On January 23, cryptocurrency-friendly fintech Revolut revealed plans to apply for a banking license in the US. After the November share sale, the London-based company was valued at about $75 billion.
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