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Revolut Drops US Bank Merger Plan, Will Pursue Standalone License — Could This Speed Up Its Crypto Expansion?

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Fintech unicorn Crypto-friendly Revolut is dropping its deliberate acquisition of an American financial institution in favor of an unbiased banking license on its option to broaden within the US market, the Financial Times reported on Friday.

The report referred to people who’re educated of the difficulty that Revolut has been negotiating with authorities within the U.S. relating to submitting an software to acquire a financial institution license by way of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).

The shift comes as regulatory attitudes in Washington soften towards fintechs and crypto companies.

Revolut Points to Softer U.S. Regulation as It Adjusts Expansion Plans

The UK-based fintech, valued at about $75 billion following a November share sale, had spent a lot of 2025 exploring the acquisition of a nationally chartered US financial institution.

An acquisition would have allowed Revolut to bypass the prolonged means of making use of for a banking constitution from scratch and instantly achieve the power to lend throughout all 50 states.

As not too long ago as July, executives believed this approach would be the quickest way to scale operations within the US.

This notion has already modified, as the corporate is at the moment playing that the approval course of will be accomplished sooner within the Trump administration since the regulatory environment has develop into so much lighter than it was previously few years.

Revolut admitted that the US is the important thing to its long-term development technique and emphasised that it wished to have a financial institution within the nation however famous that no last choice has been made but and plans could change.

Internally, the rethink is predicated on fears of the acquisition of a group financial institution being problematic, equivalent to the need to make use of bodily branches and a extra difficult approval process for any adjustments in possession.

De novo license application, which has historically been gradual, is now thought of extra predictable (and per the Revolut digital-first mannequin).

National Trust Charters Emerge as Key Path for Crypto and Fintech Firms

The relocation will put Revolut on a listing of more and more common fintech and crypto-native corporations which might be pursuing nationwide charters.

The OCC itself has obtained roughly 13 new financial institution and belief license functions in 2025 alone, which is near the variety of the previous 4 years mixed.

The regulator, in December, gave conditional approval to five crypto-based companies to develop into nationwide belief banks, in addition to BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos, to show present state licenses into nationwide ones.

The US banking license would supply Revolut with larger entry to the greenback clearing, custody, and compliance infrastructure, which might be precious to its stablecoin and crypto choices at a time when federal oversight is turning into the promoting level to each institutional and retail clients.

Although nationwide belief charters prohibit taking deposits or lending, they do present regulatory visibility that various crypto corporations have lengthy been craving.

Revolut Strengthens Role as Bridge Between Banks and Crypto

Notably, Revolut has regularly developed its crypto service and established itself as a gateway between standard finance and digital property.

In October, the company eliminated all fees and spreads on the conversions of the US greenback into main stablecoins USDC and USDT.

The quantity of stablecoin funds on the platform is projected to have increased by 156% in 2025 to approximately 10.5 billion as a result of every day fee transactions and never due to speculative buying and selling.

Additionally, Revolut has additionally elevated its world development, gaining banking licenses in Colombia and Mexico, a crypto regulatory license in Cyprus, and greater than 1 billion investments in France by 2028.

It can be mentioned to consider a dual listing in London and New York, the transfer that might additional set up its place as one of the precious fintechs on this planet.

The put up Revolut Drops US Bank Merger Plan, Will Pursue Standalone License — Could This Speed Up Its Crypto Expansion? appeared first on Cryptonews.

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