The "anti-woke" lender backed by Ben Carson is bypassing a traditional IPO to target the Nasdaq, leveraging political grievance and digital assets for growth.
Old Glory Bank Bets on Culture War, Crypto in $250mn SPAC Deal
14 January 2026 - 08:00 CET
By Stu Clelland
Old Glory Bank, a small Oklahoma lender re-branded as a conservative alternative to Wall Street, agreed on Tuesday to go public via a merger with special purpose acquisition company Digital Asset Acquisition Corp.
The deal assigns the bank a pre-money enterprise value of $250mn, an aggressive valuation for a community lender that only began its digital expansion in earnest in 2023. The transaction is expected to provide the bank with approximately $176mn in capital held in the SPAC’s trust, assuming shareholders do not redeem their cash, alongside a planned $50mn private placement (PIPE).
If successful, the bank will trade under the ticker "OGB."
Bypassing the roadshow
The decision to list via a SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company) rather than a traditional Initial Public Offering is telling. While the SPAC boom of 2020-2021 has long since collapsed, the vehicle remains a favoured route for companies with strong retail narratives but financial profiles that might struggle under the scrutiny of a traditional institutional roadshow.
Old Glory’s pitch is less about balance sheet fundamentals and more about narrative. The bank explicitly positions itself as a shield against "de-banking," capitalizing on the belief that federal regulators are pressuring institutions to cut ties with politically disfavored industries. By merging with a SPAC, Old Glory can tap directly into the retail investor sentiment that fuels the "freedom economy," bypassing the skeptical institutional book-runners that guard the gates of a standard IPO.
"We believe that America cannot have financial freedom without decentralized finance," said Old Glory CEO Mike Ring in a statement. The rhetoric is sharp, but the financial reality is modest: as of late 2025, the bank held around $245mn in deposits. While this represents significant growth from its $10mn base in 2023, it remains a rounding error compared to the "mega banks" it claims to challenge.
Crypto pivot
The merger partner, Digital Asset Acquisition Corp, hints at the bank’s real growth strategy. While Old Glory markets itself to energy companies and independent media, its scalability relies on the digital asset sector.
The bank is attempting to solve the industry’s "off-ramp" problem, the difficulty crypto firms face in converting tokens to fiat currency. Major incumbents like JPMorgan and Wells Fargo remain wary of the sector due to regulatory opacity, leaving a vacuum that smaller, risk-tolerant banks are racing to fill. Old Glory plans to offer stablecoin services and integrated crypto-to-fiat rails, betting that it can capture the fees and deposits of a high-growth industry that has been starved of banking access.
For the seasoned investor, the question is not about the bank’s ideology, but its execution risk. The graveyard of crypto-adjacent SPACs is crowded. Old Glory is betting that the convergence of political polarization and crypto adoption creates a moat that regulators and competitors cannot cross. Whether that narrative holds up in quarterly earnings calls remains to be seen.
