A company backed by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is trying to write "on-chain settlement" into the U.S. federal banking system's application form. OpenReserve Holdings has recently received preliminary approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), moving forward with plans to charter a national bank whose core business centers on settling transactions on the blockchain.
This preliminary approval came after OpenReserve closed a $25 million seed funding round. In other words, this isn't a company that got a charter first and then went looking for money — it's one that first got the nod from institutional investors like a16z, then used that backing to knock on the OCC's door.
Preliminary approval from the OCC doesn't equal an actual banking charter — there's usually a further review process to go through before the bank can truly open for business. For now, that's all that's publicly known. OpenReserve's headquarters location, expected launch timeline, and exactly how "on-chain settlement" will be implemented within the traditional banking framework haven't been officially detailed yet.
