Former Signature Leaders Launch N3XT Blockchain Bank

The institution will not engage in lending and says all deposits will be backed one-to-one by cash or short-term Treasuries to avoid the weaknesses that contributed to Signature’s collapse in 2023. It will be led by Signature founder Scott Shay and former digital asset strategy head Jeffrey Wallis, and N3XT plans to provide programmable payments and interoperability with stablecoins and other digital assets. It launches with backing from investors including Paradigm, HACK VC and Winklevoss Capital.

At the same time, former Binance.US CEO Brian Shroder introduced 1Money’s stablecoin orchestration platform, created to eliminate high enterprise fees and prepare for a zero-gas layer-1 payments chain. The company also recently secured 34 US money transmitter licenses and is entering a stablecoin sector that is now supported by major payments firms like Visa, Mastercard and Ripple.

Signature Veterans Return With N3XT

Former executives from the collapsed crypto-friendly Signature Bank re-entered the industry with the launch of N3XT, a new blockchain-based, state-chartered bank that is designed to enable around-the-clock instant payments. N3XT was announced on Thursday, and is an institution built from lessons learned during the 2023 US banking crisis, when Signature Bank — along with Silicon Valley Bank and Silvergate Bank — failed due to a rapid decline in crypto markets and deteriorating confidence in deposit stability.

Press release from N3XT

N3XT is being led by Signature Bank founder Scott Shay and will operate under Wyoming’s Special Purpose Depository Institution (SPDI) charter. This is a regulatory framework tailored to digital-asset banking. As an SPDI, N3XT will not engage in lending, which is a deliberate decision the team says is meant to preserve stability and eliminate risks associated with traditional fractional-reserve banking. The bank also claims that all customer deposits will be backed one-to-one by cash or short-term US Treasurys, with daily transparency reports on reserve holdings.

The new institution’s core pitch is instant settlement. N3XT says it can facilitate uninterrupted, 24/7 payments through a private blockchain that supports programmable transactions via smart contracts. The system is designed with interoperability in mind, allowing institutional clients to move stablecoins, utility tokens and other digital assets alongside traditional payments. 

Jeffrey Wallis, formerly Signature Bank’s director of digital asset and Web3 strategy, will serve as N3XT’s CEO and president. He said the company wants to bring crypto-native speed and automation into mainstream financial operations, and argued that money should flow as effortlessly as information does across the internet.

N3XT is launching with an undisclosed roster of institutional clients spanning crypto, foreign exchange, shipping, logistics and other industries that rely on fast settlement. The venture also secured backing from well known crypto investors, including Paradigm, HACK VC and Winklevoss Capital. Alexander Pack, co-founder of HACK VC, said his firm supported the founders as they emerged from stealth mode, and described Shay and Wallis as “forces of nature” who rebuilt quickly after Signature’s forced shutdown.

For the former Signature team, N3XT represents an opportunity to revive the crypto-banking model in a more resilient, programmable and regulation-aligned form.

Ex Binance.US CEO Leads 1Money’s Stablecoin Initiative

Former Sygnum execs are not the only ones making strides in the crypto space. Stablecoin-focused startup 1Money, which was co-founded by former Binance.US CEO Brian Shroder, launched a new stablecoin orchestration platform while it prepares to build its own layer-1 blockchain for payments. 

The platform was announced on Thursday, and is designed to eliminate the high costs that are typically associated with enterprise stablecoin services. Instead of charging monthly platform fees, 1Money plans to rely on usage-based fees for transactions involving both fiat and digital assets, with its upcoming layer-1 network offering zero gas fees for stablecoin payments.

Shroder led Binance.US from 2021 to 2023 before founding 1Money in 2024. He believes legacy providers have slowed the sector’s growth with prohibitive pricing structures. The company raised $20 million in seed funding in January of 2025 and has been building out its regulatory footprint. Just three months before the platform’s launch, 1Money reported securing 34 money transmitter licenses across the United States, allowing it to roll out regulated custody services and infrastructure for stablecoin transactions.

The platform arrives during a time of accelerating stablecoin adoption, as fintech companies and major payment networks expand into blockchain-based settlement. Earlier this week, Unlimit launched a non-custodial platform for stablecoins, while Visa and Mastercard added stablecoin support in late 2024. Ripple has also been pushing deeper into the sector by launching its RLUSD stablecoin and acquiring payments firm Rail for $200 million to offer stablecoin payment services.

With regulations advancing in both the US and the European Union, industry interest in stablecoin infrastructure is growing at a steady pace.