N3XT Bank: Ex-Signature Execs Launch Blockchain Payment Platform

Former Signature Bank Executives Launch Blockchain-Based N3XT Bank

A team of former executives from the collapsed crypto-friendly Signature Bank has unveiled N3XT, a new blockchain-based, state-chartered bank, with a mission to enable instant, round-the-clock payments. N3XT announced on Thursday its intention to settle payments instantly at any time using a private blockchain, while also providing programmable payments through smart contracts. The company stated its systems are designed for interoperability with stablecoins, utility tokens, and various other digital assets.

Signature Bank founder Scott Shay established N3XT, which will operate under a Wyoming Special Purpose Depository Institution (SPDI) charter and will refrain from offering lending services. Signature Bank was one of three crypto-aligned banks, along with Silicon Valley Bank and Silvergate Bank, that succumbed to the 2023 US banking crisis due to bank runs and their exposure to the rapidly declining crypto market.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) took control of Signature Bank in March 2023, shortly after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, citing an overreliance on uninsured deposits, weak risk management controls, and an escalating deposit run.

N3XT's Avoidance of Lending Services

Jeffrey Wallis, Signature Bank’s former director of digital asset and Web3 strategy, will assume the roles of CEO and President at N3XT. He emphasized that crypto innovations are central to the new enterprise. “Money should move as seamlessly as information,” Wallis stated. “We’re applying crypto innovations to banking to deliver instant, programmable payments for institutional clients.”

N3XT will not offer lending services, and the bank maintains that its reserves are backed one-to-one by cash or short-term US Treasurys, with a commitment to daily transparency regarding reserve holdings. At launch, N3XT identifies its client base as consisting of unnamed businesses spanning crypto, foreign exchange, shipping and logistics, and other diverse sectors.

Crypto Venture Capital Firms Back N3XT

The bank has completed three rounds of funding from investors including Winklevoss Capital, the venture capital firm founded by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, as well as Paradigm and HACK VC. Alexander Pack, co-founder of Hack, expressed his firm's support for N3XT and its founders as they emerge from "stealth mode" in a post on X.

“N3XT’s founders, Scott and Jeff, are forces of nature: they previously built Signature Bank, the biggest and best bank to support the US crypto industry in a regulated way, before the last administration forced them to shut down,” Pack stated. “Most founders would quit after something like that, but instead they immediately went back to work building N3XT.”