Telcoin surges 109% after receiving U.S. approval to launch its digital asset bank

Telcoin (TEL) price went up by as high as 109% intraday after news of its issuer’s regulatory approval to establish its digital asset bank in the United States broke. 

Governor Jim Pillen and the Nebraska Department of Banking and Finance (NDBF) granted final charter approval to Telcoin Digital Asset Bank (TDAB) on Wednesday, greenlighting it to accept crypto deposits, issue crypto-backed loans, and connect to Federal Reserve payment rails.

The digital asset company had applied for the charter in 2023 and raised $25 million in October to fund the banking operations.

Telcoin trading volume spikes 

The news sent TEL prices soaring in Wednesday’s close by over 100%, before a slight price correction took the profits down to a 90% 24-hour price increase in Thursday’s Asian early trading sessions. 

According to market data from TradingView, TEL broke above its 200-day moving average at $0.0047 and surpassed the Fibonacci extension level at $0.00669, accompanied by a 2,714% trading volume uptick within the last day.

However, the token’s bullish attempt to peak its 2025 all-time high price was rejected at $0.0067, a technical level for the next leg of the uptrend.

Telcoin wins  US national digital asset bank charter

Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen and NDBF Director Kelly Lammers personally participated in issuing the charter to TDAB, saying the state is leading a “new era of digital payments by issuing a charter to a digital asset bank that can ‘mint’ stablecoins.”  

The charter allows TDAB to operate as a digital asset depository institution, the first of its kind in the United States. Lammers noted that funds backing each coin are primarily held in US government securities or deposited in FDIC-insured Nebraska banks. 

“This special purpose bank is designed under Nebraska law to ensure the payment is always good,” the NDBF director explained.

Telcoin founder and CEO Paul Neuner thanked Nebraska’s Governor Pillen, Congressman Flood, Director Lammers, and his team for “having the vision to see that this is about more than cryptocurrency.” 

TDAB is also launching its own US dollar-backed stablecoin, eUSD, which will operate on public blockchain rails backed by dollar deposits and short-term Treasuries held in reserves. Neuner said eUSD will be “upgrading the technology of money, payments, and banking itself” rather than removing funds from the traditional banking system.

eUSD is very different from JPMorgan’s JPM Coin, which was issued on  Wednesday on the Ethereum-based Base blockchain. JPM Coin represents deposits at the bank, but eUSD functions as a circulating, full-reserve stablecoin operating openly on public blockchain networks. 

“Our charter makes history, and not just for Telcoin, but for the entire US banking system. We’re proving that a bank can issue on-chain digital cash responsibly and operate in full alignment with US regulators. eUSD brings the speed, transparency, and affordability of blockchain into everyday finance in a way that anyone can use,” Neuner concluded in his statement.

Other crypto financial institutions like Ripple, USDC issuer Circle, and Crypto.com are still waiting for their requests for bank charters to be approved by regulators, after submitting applications earlier this year.

According to a report from Cryptopolitan, Ripple submitted an application in July to the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a national banking charter. The charter would place the OCC as the regulatory authority overseeing Ripple’s stablecoin, RLUSD.

Crypto.com forwarded its application in late October to become the latest cryptocurrency company to seek a US bank charter. The company is already regulated at the state level in New Hampshire as a non-depository trust company. 

“Our focus has been building Crypto.com’s products and services through regulated and secure offerings,” said CEO Kris Marszalek through a company press statement at the time.

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