Inside a Banker’s Digital Asset Journey: Insights from a Pioneer

Key takeaways: 

• Understand what community financial institutions need to know about digital assets and stablecoins from a banker who built a digital asset bank from the ground up.
• Learn how deposits, liquidity, and customer relationships can be affected as customers move funds into crypto exchanges and fintech apps.
• See which compliance and risk management upgrades community financial institutions should consider before offering digital asset or stablecoin services.
• Know when it makes more sense for community financial institutions to partner with digital asset providers versus building capabilities in-house.

In this episode of Banking Out Loud, Sheila Noll, PCBB’s Chief Operating Officer, talks with Patrick Gerhart, President of Telcoin Digital Asset Bank, about why digital assets and regulated stablecoins are becoming too big for community financial institutions (CFIs) to ignore. As more customers move money into crypto exchanges and fintech apps, Sheila and Patrick unpack what is at stake for CFIs in terms of deposits, liquidity, and long‑term customer relationships.

Drawing on Patrick’s journey from traditional community banker to digital asset bank president, the conversation surfaces the blind spots many bankers still have around stablecoins, blockchain, and evolving regulation—and how quickly that mindset is shifting. Sheila and Patrick dig into practical next steps, from upgrading compliance and risk management to deciding when to partner versus build, giving CFI leaders a candid look at what it will take to compete in a digital asset world.

 

GUESTS: 

Patrick Gerhart
President
Telcoin Digital Asset Bank

Sheila Noll 
EVP & Chief Operating Officer
Operations | PCBB