Ex-Signature Bank Team Launches N3XT, a 24/7 Blockchain Bank

N3XT’s core proposition is the elimination of traditional payment delays and banking hours. The bank announced it aims to settle payments instantly at any time using a private blockchain. This stands in stark contrast to conventional banking systems, which are bound by business hours, batch processing, and multi-day settlement cycles for wire transfers and ACH transactions. The move to a blockchain-based infrastructure is a direct response to the market demand for real-time, always-on financial services, particularly within the digital asset and global commerce sectors where time zones and weekends create friction.

The technology underpinning this service is a private blockchain, which offers controlled access and potentially greater regulatory compliance compared to public, permissionless networks. This choice reflects a pragmatic approach to integrating innovative technology within the existing U.S. financial regulatory framework. By leveraging this architecture, N3XT seeks to provide the speed and programmability of crypto-native systems while operating as a chartered, supervised bank, aiming to offer clients a familiar level of trust and oversight.

Beyond speed, N3XT is embedding advanced functionality into its payment rails. The bank explicitly offers programmable payments through smart contracts—self-executing agreements with terms written directly into code. This capability could enable automated payroll, conditional escrow services, complex treasury management, and subscription models that execute without manual intervention. It represents a fundamental shift from passive payment channels to active, logic-driven financial infrastructure.

Critically, N3XT’s systems have been designed for interoperability with stablecoins, utility tokens, and other digital assets. This design philosophy acknowledges the fragmented but rapidly evolving digital asset ecosystem. By building for interoperability, N3XT positions itself not as a closed system, but as a bridge between traditional U.S. dollar (USD) banking and various blockchain-based asset classes. This could allow clients to seamlessly move value between fiat-backed stablecoins and bank-held USD, or to integrate tokenized assets into automated payment flows.

The regulatory foundation for N3XT is the Wyoming Special Purpose Depository Institution (SPDI) charter. This innovative state charter is specifically designed for institutions that wish to provide banking services for digital assets. It requires 100% reserve backing for customer deposits, meaning the bank must hold assets equal to all liabilities. A key restriction of the SPDI model is that it prohibits lending from customer deposits. Consequently, N3XT will not offer lending services, focusing its business model entirely on custody, payment settlement, and fee-based transaction services. This narrow focus mitigates the liquidity and credit risks that contributed to the failures of several traditional banks in 2023.

The launch is led by Signature Bank founder Scott Shay and a group of former executives from the collapsed crypto-friendly institution. Signature Bank’s failure in March 2023, following a destabilizing bank run, left a significant gap in banking services for crypto and tech companies. N3XT’s emergence can be seen as an attempt to fill that void with a more resilient, purpose-built structure. By adopting the restrictive but clear Wyoming SPDI framework and avoiding lending, the team is applying lessons from the past to build a financial institution tailored for the future of digital assets and programmable finance.