NORFOLK, NEB. -- Telcoin, a pioneer in blockchain-based financial services, announced that its application to become Nebraska’s first Digital Asset Depository Institution has been conditionally approved by the state’s Department of Banking and Finance. This approval brings Telcoin Bank, a Digital Asset Bank, another step closer to creating the first real bridge between traditional finance and cryptocurrencies.

Telcoin Bank is now poised to become the first regulated crypto bank in the United States. Its upcoming launch is expected to disrupt the US$200 billion stablecoin market and transform the financial landscape by offering fully regulated, bank-issued “Digital Cash” stablecoins, as well as an innovative suite of blockchain banking products and services. This development promises to accelerate the adoption of crypto in mainstream finance and provide unparalleled access to digital financial services for mobile phone users worldwide.

“This approval marks a major milestone for Telcoin and the entire US crypto industry,” said Paul Neuner, Founder and CEO of Telcoin. “I’ve always believed that the key to making crypto usable in payments and mainstream finance is a digital asset bank with native connections to the existing financial system.” Neuner pointed out that while Wyoming and the OCC did issue three charters previously, none of them have been able to gain access to the Fed payment system. “The Nebraska charter creates an actual bank charter, and the first that is explicitly authorized to connect consumers to DeFi,” he added.

Telcoin Bank is scheduled to launch operations early this year by releasing the first bank-issued stablecoin, eUSD, as the backbone of its broader multi-currency Digital Cash strategy. “We are creating the Internet of Money,” Neuner explained, “where digital asset banks globally issue free-floating Digital Cash that can be transacted directly between consumers and merchants.”

The company said that this initial launch will provide the foundation for a wider suite of digital financial products. In accordance with the Nebraska Financial Innovation Act, which Telcoin helped draft and passed into law in 2021, Telcoin Bank will be authorized in the future to take any cryptocurrency deposits, facilitate DeFi staking programs, provision digital asset loans, and more. This launch also coincides with enhancements to the Telcoin Wallet application, providing users with an intuitive mobile interface to access Digital Cash and Telcoin Bank’s innovative services.

Telcoin Group is headquartered in Singapore where its operating entity is licensed as a Major Payment Institution. The Group’s subsidiaries are also registered as a European virtual asset service provider in Lithuania and as a money services business in the United States, Canada, and Australia. Telcoin was also the first blockchain company to become a member of the GSMA, the world’s largest telecom industry organization, in 2018.