Vast Holdings CEO Urges Banks to Embrace Blockchain

Stablecoins and tokenized deposits are pushing payments and settlement toward programmable, round-the-clock infrastructure, challenging banks built around business hours and legacy core systems. Vast Holdings is the holding company of Oklahoma-based Vast Bank. Investor Greg Kidd injected $53 million into the group in 2024, backing a strategy aimed at linking regulated banking with blockchain rails while preserving safeguards such as compliance controls and deposit insurance.

Linda Jenkinson, chair and CEO of Vast Holdings, told the American Banker ON_CHAIN Executive Summit in New York on March 19, 2026, that banks could reap major benefits from blockchain and should move more aggressively into stablecoins and on-chain finance. She said regulated bank money should move instantly, across borders and 24/7. Vast Bank is also preparing what Jenkinson described as one of the first U.S. retail tokenized deposits, a blockchain-based digital dollar checking account eligible for FDIC insurance.