Monet, a small Texas lender joining the cryptocurrency-focused banking sector.

Monet Bank, a small Texas community bank owned by a billionaire political ally of President Donald Trump, has entered the cryptocurrency lending space, billing itself as an “infrastructure bank” focused on digital assets. Monet says on its website that it is “focused on becoming the leading digital asset financial institution, providing innovative and forward-thinking solutions for the digital economy.” Although it has less than $6 billion in assets and just over $1 billion in capital, according to state records, the institution is considered a very small community bank.

The Texas lender opened as Beal Savings Bank in 1988 and changed its name to XD Bank earlier this year and then back to Monet Bank two months later. The state-chartered agency is regulated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and has six offices, according to federal data.

Owner Andy Beal, who founded Beal Financial Corp., is known as a high-level poker player and a major backer of Trump’s successful 2016 presidential campaign, funding his own political action committee. The Information first reported on Monet Bank’s shift to focus on digital assets earlier Friday.

It joins a slowly growing sector of banks that aim to serve the cryptocurrency industry. Last October, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) granted a conditional charter to Erebor Bank, a new technology-focused company backed by Founders Fund’s Peter Thiel (who also invested in CoinDesk’s parent company, Bullish). And earlier this week, former Signature Bank executives launched N3XT, a narrow bank chartered as a Wyoming special purpose depository institution. N3XT said it would settle payments immediately via a private blockchain.

The change comes amid a broader shift in how federal banking regulators approach cryptocurrencies. Since President Trump took office, his regulators have rolled back existing guidance warning banks under their supervision to handle cryptocurrencies carefully and issued new guidance aimed at giving the cryptocurrency industry better access to banking services.

FDIC Acting Chairman Travis Hill told lawmakers his agency expects to propose rules for the cryptocurrency industry related to the GENIUS Act, with a focus on stablecoins, at a hearing earlier this week.

Beal’s company did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent to affiliate Beal Bank’s Media Line.