Digital Asset-Focused LevelField Financial Aims to Acquire Chicago-Based Burling Bank

LevelField Financial, a company focused on uniting traditional banking and digital asset products, said Monday (Nov. 17) that it received conditional approval to complete its acquisition of Chicago-based Burling Bank.

The company said in a press release that it received this conditional approval from the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR).

The proposed acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by the Federal Reserve to become a bank holding company, according to the release.

Reached by PYMNTS, the IDFPR said in an emailed statement that an approval has not yet been granted.

“IDFPR’s Division of Banking has accepted LevelField’s application to process the acquisition of Burling Bank,” the statement said. “No Certificate Authorizing Change in Control has been issued.

“Referring to LevelField’s press release, the IDFPR statement said: “We have respectfully requested that the featured headline and associated language be adjusted to reflect that an approval has not been granted at this time.”

Burling Bank did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.

LevelField said in the release that if the transaction closes, the company plans to rename the bank LevelField Bank and become a full-service, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation-insured banking providing banking and digital asset services for businesses and consumers across the United States and U.S. territories.

These post-closing bank products and services will include loans and credit cards collateralized by Bitcoin, Bitcoin rewards credit and debit cards, digital asset trading and custody, and bank account programs to serve “underrepresented industries” such as the digital asset industry, per the release.

“LevelField Bank was designed to meet the needs of the Bitcoin and digital asset community,” LevelField Financial CEO Gene A. Grant II said in the release. “We’re among the first full-service FDIC-insured banks to receive approval to offer digital asset banking services, and we will seek to offer a best-in-class, true 24×7 bank delivering real-time payment and banking functionality for customers, including historically underbanked businesses.”

LevelField Financial tried once before to acquire Burling Bank. The bank filed with the IDFPR in February 2023 to be acquired by LevelField but withdrew that filing in February 2024, according to the Department’s Regulatory Report 2024.

LevelField had said in a February 2023 press release that, subject to regulatory approval, it expected that transaction to close by the end of 2023.

Burling Bank filed again in December 2024 to be acquired by LevelField, per the Department’s report.

Bloomberg reported Monday that LevelField and Burling Bank withdrew their first filing after the collapse of crypto-friendly banks Silvergate Capital and Signature Bank. It said their second filing came after the election of President Donald Trump, who vowed to make the United States the “crypto capital.”