Crypto Law Profile
Nebraska’s Financial Innovation Act creates a state digital asset depository charter for custody, stablecoin issuance, payment activity, disclosures, and NDBF supervision.
Nebraska Financial Innovation Act is a United States state-level digital asset banking law codified at Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 8-3001 to 8-3031. The Act was enacted through LB649, signed into law on May 26, 2021, and became effective on Oct. 1, 2021. As of June 5, 2026, the regime is active and administered by the Nebraska Department of Banking and Finance, or NDBF. The Department describes the Act as authorizing a new charter for digital asset depositories and states that it is responsible for enforcing and administering the Act, including rules, regulations, and guidance.
The Act creates a Nebraska-chartered “digital asset depository” framework rather than a general-purpose crypto exchange license. The official statutory compilation states that §§ 8-3001 to 8-3031 may be cited as the Nebraska Financial Innovation Act, and the Act’s findings describe the framework as intended to support digital asset operations while emphasizing customer identification, anti-money laundering, beneficial ownership, and Bank Secrecy Act compliance.
The central licensing rule is that no corporation may act as a digital asset depository without first obtaining a charter from the Director of Banking and Finance. Charter applications must include articles of incorporation, bylaws, a detailed business plan, three years of operating-expense estimates, a compliance proposal, evidence of capital and surplus, and ownership information for investors or owners holding at least 10% equity. Each charter application requires a $50,000 application fee.
The statute also permits an existing financial institution to seek authority to operate a digital asset depository business as a separate department. A digital asset depository department must be separate from other departments of the financial institution and has the powers, duties, and obligations of a digital asset depository institution under the Act.
Digital asset depository institutions must meet capital and surplus thresholds. The current NDBF statutory compilation states that no digital asset depository institution may be chartered with capital stock of less than $10 million, and that it may not be chartered without paid-up surplus of at least three years of estimated operating expenses, unless the Director requires another amount.
Authorized digital asset business activities include digital asset and cryptocurrency custody services, stablecoin issuance with qualifying reserve deposits, and use of independent node verification networks and stablecoins for payment activities. The Act also requires a digital asset depository to maintain unencumbered U.S.-dollar-denominated liquid assets worth at least 100% of the value of any outstanding stablecoin it issues.
The Act imposes customer-facing disclosure requirements. Account terms must be disclosed when a customer contracts for a digital asset business service, and disclosures must include fees, FDIC insurance status, network-fork support, volatility and total-loss risk, regulatory-change risk, irrevocability where applicable, liability for mistaken or unauthorized transfers, legal-tender status, cyber-theft risk, private-key control, and permanent loss risk.
Separate advertising, website, mobile app, and physical-location notices must state, where applicable, that digital asset deposits and accounts are not FDIC-insured. The Act also requires a conspicuous warning that digital asset holdings are speculative, involve a substantial degree of risk, and are not guaranteed by the depository or insured by the FDIC.
NDBF has supervision and examination authority over digital asset depositories. The Director may call for verified reports, and every digital asset depository is subject to examination for financial condition, management, officer and director conduct, safety and prudence, and compliance with the Act. Depositories must also maintain insurance or a bond covering operational risks, including directors’ and officers’ liability, errors and omissions, information technology infrastructure, and business operations.
Title 47 of the Nebraska Administrative Code became effective on May 29, 2024. NDBF described those rules as covering charter applications, surety bond and insurance requirements, capital requirements, depository departments, reporting, complaints, FDIC-insurance notices, and cybersecurity-event response programs.
The Act remains active as of this profile’s verification date. NDBF’s digital-assets page states that cleanup amendments were adopted by LB92 in 2023, and its 2025 compilation includes further statutory updates through LB251 and LB474. LB474 changes affecting charter suspension and liquidation provisions list an Oct. 1, 2025 operative date.
In November 2025, Governor Jim Pillen announced that NDBF had issued a charter to Telcoin Digital Asset Bank to operate as a digital asset depository institution in Nebraska, describing the charter as the first of its kind in the United States. NDBF later issued LB717 industry correspondence stating that LB717 was signed Feb. 25, 2026, and that its changes become effective July 18, 2026; editors should re-check codified sections after that date.
Requires a corporation to obtain a charter from the Director before acting as a digital asset depository.
Allows an existing financial institution to seek a charter to operate a separate digital asset depository department.
Sets a $10 million minimum capital stock requirement and paid-up surplus of at least three years of estimated operating expenses.
Authorizes custody, stablecoin issuance, reserve deposits, independent node verification networks, and stablecoin payment activity.
Requires unencumbered U.S.-dollar-denominated liquid assets worth at least 100% of outstanding stablecoins issued by the depository.
Requires account, risk, legal-tender, private-key, volatility, cyber-theft, and FDIC-insurance disclosures and acknowledgments.
Requires compliance with state and federal law, including AML, customer identification, beneficial ownership, and BSA-related obligations.
Authorizes NDBF reports and examinations and requires insurance or bonds covering specified operational risks.
LB649 was introduced by Sen. Mike Flood in the 107th Legislature, First Session.
Governor Pete Ricketts signed the Nebraska Financial Innovation Act into law.
The Act became effective, creating Nebraska’s digital asset depository charter framework.
NDBF states cleanup amendments adopted by LB92 became effective.
Title 47 Nebraska Administrative Code rules for digital asset depositories became effective.
NDBF published notice of Telcoin’s application for a digital asset depository charter.
NDBF’s 2025 compilation lists LB251 amendments to customer and BSA-related provisions as effective.
LB474 amendments to charter enforcement and liquidation provisions became operative.
Governor Pillen announced issuance of a digital asset bank charter to Telcoin Digital Asset Bank.
NDBF states LB717 was signed into law and has changes becoming effective July 18, 2026.
Director of Banking and Finance, Governor of Nebraska, Nebraska Department of Banking and Finance, Nebraska Legislature
Controllable electronic records, Crypto assets, Digital assets, Stablecoins
State-level banking statute, not a general crypto exchange license. The Act establishes Nebraska-chartered digital asset depositories and related supervisory rules administered by NDBF.
