Revolut hit by Washington crypto boom illusion, exposing massive two-tier banking system

Revolut filed with the OCC and FDIC on March 4 to establish Revolut Bank US, an insured national bank that would take deposits, issue credit cards, make loans, and connect directly to Fedwire and ACH.Nearly six months later, that application remains pending, while federal regulators have spent the same stretch conditionally approving or converting bank charters for Circle, Ripple, Coinbase, Paxos, BitGo and several other crypto firms.Revolut has not been denied, though its application sits under review, and comparing it directly to those crypto approvals misses what each company asked Washington for.A national bank wants moreRevolut's application describes a full-service digital national bank supporting deposit accounts, card products, consumer and commercial lending, cross-border payments, and investment and trading services, built to reduce the company's reliance on partner banks.The company says it serves more than 70 million customers across 40 markets and carries a $75 billion valuation, reached in a November 2025 secondary offering.That puts the application through every layer of traditional bank review at once. Regulators must weigh capital and liquidity adequate to survive ...