Fold Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: FLD), a bitcoin financial services company enabling individuals to earn, save, and spend bitcoin through everyday financial tools, has announced Lead Bank as its new core banking partner.

As the first publicly traded bitcoin financial services company, Fold has partnered with the FDIC-insured Lead Bank to strengthen its banking foundation and support the next phase of growth. Kansas City–based Lead Bank, known for its embedded banking and fintech partnership infrastructure, will support Fold's accounts, deposits, withdrawals, and bitcoin trading operations. The partnership is designed to enhance Fold's financial infrastructure, enabling the company to build, launch, and scale new products for its customers.

For bitcoin-focused fintechs, securing a regulated banking partner is a foundational step that ties digital asset services into the traditional U.S. payments system — including FedACH, FedWire, and the FedNow instant payment rail launched by the Federal Reserve in 2023. The arrangement positions Fold to offer banking-like functionality while operating within a compliant, FDIC-insured framework for customer funds.

"This marks an important step forward in Fold's evolution as a full-featured financial services platform," said Will Reeves, Chairman, CEO and Founder of Fold. "Fold has always worked to make bitcoin part of how people manage money day to day. With Lead Bank as our banking partner, we're better positioned to keep building products that bring bitcoin into everyday life."

Jake Mendel, Head of Strategic Partnerships at Lead, highlighted the alignment between the two organizations: "Fold has been a pioneer in making bitcoin accessible and useful in day-to-day financial services. Lead's embedded banking infrastructure, combined with the digital asset expertise of our teams, makes for a strong partnership that supports Fold's impressive pace of innovation. Lead is thrilled to support Fold's continued growth by providing the underlying infrastructure that powers the core Fold experience."

The new banking relationship is expected to support expanded account functionality over time, including new ways for customers to buy and earn bitcoin through the Fold App. Planned customer-facing features are expected to launch in phases beginning later this year, ultimately including:

• Passthrough bitcoin buys: instant BTC purchases funded from Fold's FBO balance
• ACH origination: pull deposits, push withdrawals, and outgoing third-party payments
• Same-day ACH and standard ACH deposits
• FedWire and FedNow transfers (incoming and outgoing)
• Instant withdrawals available 24/7/365 via FedNow
• Higher deposit and withdrawal limits
• Direct deposit with early fund availability
• Auto-stack bitcoin purchases from external bank accounts
• Accounts with routing and account numbers

The addition of routing and account numbers would bring Fold accounts closer to parity with conventional checking accounts, while features like auto-stacking and passthrough bitcoin buys are designed to let customers automate recurring BTC accumulation directly from fiat balances.

Fold expects to begin transitioning customer accounts to Lead Bank later this year, with a focus on ensuring a smooth customer experience throughout the process.

"Our priority is to introduce new capabilities thoughtfully while continuing to improve the Fold experience for customers," Reeves added. "As we move into this next phase, we remain focused on building products that bring bitcoin to the everyday person."

The announcement follows several recent milestones for Fold, including the rollout of the Fold Bitcoin Credit Card — which is not part of the Lead Bank partnership — and recent capital transactions aimed at improving Fold's ability to scale its consumer and enterprise platforms.