Old Glory Bank's crypto SPAC merger died at the Fed, leaving wind-down on the table

Old Glory Bank — the Elmore City, Oklahoma online bank co-founded by former HUD Secretary Ben Carson, former Trump press secretary Sean Spicer and banker Mike Ring — struck a SPAC merger in January 2026 to become OGB Financial Company, a crypto-focused, Nasdaq-listed Texas corporation. The bank positioned itself as serving the 'Freedom Economy' and customers who had been 'debanked'.

The deal's math depended on approval: Digital Asset Acquisition Corp had about $176 million in trust, Old Glory's pre-money valuation was set at $250 million, and the parties planned to arrange at least $50 million more for closing. Co-founder Michael Staw said the intent was for Old Glory to be 'the first chartered bank to fully integrate crypto into daily banking.'

It never closed. On August 18, 2026, Banking Dive reported the merger was terminated per a securities filing, with neither party paying a termination fee. An Old Glory spokesperson said the Federal Reserve did not approve the transaction and that CEO Mike Ring would sue the Fed 'at the right time, on his dime'; the Fed declined to comment, while its supervision letter notes applicants may withdraw once staff recommend denial.

The stakes were existential: a month earlier the bank had disclosed it might need 'a sale or organized wind-down' if the deal failed, having reported a $4.4 million loss in Q1 after a $14.8 million loss in 2025.

A $14.8M 2025 loss and $4.4M Q1 loss; a month earlier it warned of 'a sale or organized wind-down' without the deal

The bank's capital plan had a single point of failure: Fed approval of a crypto-integrated bank merger, which was not granted.

Losses were already running at $14.8 million a year, so the Nasdaq capital was not optional growth funding — it was the solvency plan.

The crypto-banking ambition gave regulators more to deny, not less, for a $279.4 million-asset institution.

The fallback disclosed before termination — sale or organized wind-down — showed there was no plan B.

A bank that prices its growth plan on one regulatory approval has no plan: the Fed's signature was the whole balance sheet, and it never came.

As of 2026-08-18: Old Glory remained private with 6,600 stockholders and 90,000 account holders, pledging to fight; the Fed stayed silent; the bank's wind-down warning hung over its $279.4 million of assets pending a sale, recapitalization, or regulator-directed resolution.