speaker-0 (00:00)
Welcome to another episode of the Forge of Freedom Podcast. I'm your host, Alex Gooley, and I'm joined today by a special guest, Eric Oldhausen, right? And from Old Glory Bank. And it's not just any bank, right? You can go down the street and JP Morgan Chase, ⁓ Citibank, Bank of America, ⁓ but if you have been paying attention at all to the gun industry, you know that many of those bigger banks are not friendly to your individual liberty, your privacy.

When certainly not firearm. So today ⁓ we're glad to talk about a bank that is unique, that sets itself apart in many ways, ⁓ and in lots of the ways that I just alluded to. So Eric, thanks for joining the show. Yeah, so we're we're here on the show floor at the NRA annual meeting in Houston, Texas. And it's I don't see I don't know, I haven't seen any other banks here. What why is old Glory Bank at the NRA annual meeting in Houston?

speaker-1 (00:30)
That's right. ⁓

Happy to be here. Thank you.

It it's completely consistent with why we exist, to be honest. I'll give a brief history of Old Glory Bank 'cause it it'll ⁓ help explain how we got to where we are. Sure. ⁓ Old Glory Bank I got the idea for ⁓ back in twenty twenty. ⁓ the audience will r recall that was ⁓ what's jokingly referred to as the summer of love and the craziness that was going on with the riots and so forth. ⁓ the police being vilified for doing their hard work.

⁓ the sports teams kneeling for the anthem and the flag and quite frankly and my wife can confirm this. I I you know was yelling at the TV and I just you know kept getting tired of yelling at the TV and thought we need to do something. I come out of the financial world, it's been with with banks, I've been done MA work, I've worked for financial technology businesses that I've started, so it was a world that I knew and understood and I felt America needed a bank that was supportive of traditional values, that had respect.

for the constitution, ⁓ that loved its military and and police and that was there to be a safe haven from the cancel culture because I started to notice also, along with that social mayhem going on, ⁓ started to notice how the cancel culture was starting to infect the banking system and and it's referred to as debanking. you know, the listeners might know that that's you know Trump is one of his first executive orders was against de-banking and and

because of course the Trump administration and individuals ⁓ family members were were ⁓ victims of banks closing their accounts. ⁓ it broadly was occurring. The whole industry, firearms industry comes under fire all the way back to the Obama administration, what was referred to as choke point operation choke point ⁓ under the Biden administration it was choke point two point

But so we sought out to be a market response to what we were seeing that was lacking in the marketplace. ⁓ I love to point out that early on we drew the attention of some really prominent patriots who loved that idea that I just described or those ideas. So co-founders of mine in Old Glory Bank are Secretary Ben Carson, Larry Elder, country singer John Rich.

is one of my co-founders, ⁓ Sean Spicer, ⁓ as well. ⁓ Larry Elder, Ben Carson, and Sean Spicer are actually on our board of directors, ⁓ as is Bill Schein, who was Deputy Chief of Staff in Trump's first administration. So a lot of great folks who helped validate that what we're doing was a very ⁓ legitimate ⁓ response to what people were seeing.

speaker-0 (03:38)
the market.

Yeah. And and peop you know people the you hear you hear people talking about money and it sort of gets leaves a bad taste in people's mouths, right? But money serves a very useful function, right? That it's the life sort of the lifeblood of the economy. And if and if institutions can just, as the name implies, but choke off the the lifeblood of the economy through this choik choke point operation, then people can just no longer go out and and live their life and survive, right? So that's right. So you need to have

institutions like Old Glory Bank who allow people to live and to operate their businesses freely without fear of being cut off from their their life.

speaker-1 (04:17)
That's right. And I I describe it as you know there they're we have rights that we fight for. Quite often, you know, the focus on free sh free speech and the right to bear arms. ⁓ but those only are are valid and worth fighting for if you can actually exercise them. And for example, free speech, you know, if if you can't you as a as a communicator can't voice your opinion because you you don't have a bank account that you know pays for the gas for you to get to this event, then what's the right, you know, what's the purpose.

Ex exactly. Similarly with firearms, if you don't if you have a firearm but you don't have access to ammunition, then what's the the point of that? It's it's of little value. And so similarly we feel that

Banking is such a ⁓ integral part of of existing, of participating in our financial system, and we defend the right of anyone clear across the political spectrum. we're very principled about it and so long as you're lawfully operating, ⁓ we feel you have the right to participate in our financial system.

speaker-0 (05:21)
got a a a friend who was personally affected by Operation Choke Point. Yeah. ⁓ they had an account they they operate a firearms range in Indiana. They had an a a bank account with a large bank and just randomly no warning, no no clue what was happening, no clue what they did wrong, their accounts were just closed. Yeah. They had to they had to pick up their money and move it somewhere else. No. And and I'm sure you've you're familiar with lots of stories like

speaker-1 (05:50)
No no doubt. No, it's it it's rampant. And ⁓ and I and I've also described to people and first of all, Old Glory Bank is is available to everyone. So we we are a digital first bank. we do have one location in Oklahoma. We have customers in all fifty states, tens of thousands of customers. So anyone who's hearing this, who's viewing this, ⁓ is a candidate to be a customer, both individuals as well as businesses. ⁓ and we are there to

address that very topic you're talking about is that you know a lot of people say well I'm not an outspoken political person, ⁓ you know, my bank isn't really gonna why would they cancel me? ⁓ I I think a couple things are important. First of all,

Principle people want you know ought to ⁓ take some initiative and I encourage people, you know, you you have the power to vote with your feet, to vote with your wallet. And you know, why would you support the big banks that are penalizing an industry that we care about? And just out of solidarity, I think there's a lot to be said for going to and supporting institutions that are ⁓ supportive of the broader cause is one thing. And that's not just firearms, it's we're also, you know, as I described, supportive of a

America, of our traditional values, of our military, of our police. But then also just the masses, general population are susceptible to being canceled just in general. For instance, PayPal does not allow transactions involving firearms or ammunition. It's in this in their terms of use, it's in the same paragraph that outlaws PayPal's use for stolen property and illegal drugs, firearms and ammunition. They they lump those together and it's crazy.

illegal activity, illegal activity, and not just legal activity with firearms, but constitutionally protected legal ac activity they are you know prohibiting and so ⁓ or you described a a firearms merchant if if I can't walk into you know maybe that shop was closed temporarily because they were seeking ⁓ a an alternative financial source ⁓

I would have indirectly been, you know, cancelled by that bank because my ability to transact lawfully had been restricted. And so it really is a a widespread issue ⁓ that people have the power to to in their own way.

speaker-0 (08:10)
Yeah.

Th my perception, and obviously you'll have a better take on this, is that there's a lot of friction in moving banks. And a lot of times people have an account with a large bank because it's it's easy, it's convenient, that's who they started with, they sure and they don't want to move. Yeah. And the other th part of that I think is that people have accounts with large banks in particular because they feel like ⁓ they're not gonna fail, they're not gonna fall apart. Yeah. If they do, the government's gonna prop them up because they're too big to fail mentality. But old glory banks.

speaker-1 (08:41)
Sure, no happy to. first of all, we are a FDIC insured chartered bank, so we have those protections that you know all banks have who participate ⁓ and are you know actual chartered banks. ⁓ we have a broad footprint of customers, even though it's it's a one location in Oklahoma. ⁓ we have customers in all fifty states. ⁓ we have those protections of I mean it's the most regulated industry. I think firearms

certainly un understandably is you know people know that it's a regulated industry banking is by far in the way just another order of magnitude of regulatory requirements so you know we we have all those ⁓ oversight and things we have to address and adhere to as any bank. ⁓ and we really have ⁓ seen some phenomenal growth because we have ⁓ phen phenomenal technology and and

Yeah, we're the one started out as one location in in Oklahoma with just a few hundred customers, even though it was a a very long standing bank. just had not grown from its local ⁓ location ⁓ in Oklahoma.

⁓ but we went from about 300 customers and in three years of introducing great technology to open accounts in all states, ⁓ we have now over 85,000 accounts open ⁓ clear across the country, businesses and individuals. And the reason ⁓ several fold that people come to bank ⁓ to Old Glory Bank

⁓ in lieu of the other banks is it's the solidarity of of the shared vision and values. It's incredible technology and I and I really don't mean that ⁓ say that lightly. I put our mobile app and online banking experience up against B of A, Chase, City. It really serves as a a an app of app, a financial app of app. So ⁓ you mentioned about the friction of moving from one bank to another.

And I I recognize that. I mean even though I'm a founder of Old Glory Bank, I still have accounts elsewhere, you know, credit cards, you just you want to keep those just 'cause the longevity of a relationship is valuable. ⁓ so it doesn't have to be, you know, all or nothing. And I encourage people to to open an account. It takes eight minutes online or over your phone to open an Old Glory Bank account, move a couple hundred bucks over and experience what it's like.

and ov you know maybe do a a partial you know a portion of your direct deposit whether it's benefits or or payroll have a portion go to that account and start to experience what it's like and link to your other accounts. and one thing I love showing a couple things with our

technology is you can look and see you know how often maybe on a Sunday you're looking at some of the things you might have done Friday and Saturday nights and say, you know, maybe you went out to eat and you you have to open up three or four different apps to see, you know, was I charged correctly because you don't recall which card you used. In the old Glory Bank bank app you can see every account that you've linked and even sequentially not even having to open up different pages to head see your whole financial life right there in one app. So that's great. ⁓

Sometimes you see a charge and you think that doesn't look familiar. With our app, you can click on that transaction and a map pops up and it shows the location of that merchant and you can say, that was that place my wife and I stepped into. That that's legitimate. And so now, you know, my mind's at ease that I wasn't, you know, hacked or my card stolen or something. So ⁓ really good technology there. And one other thing I want to say in practical terms about the banking. ⁓

A lot of people you know that maybe haven't experienced a fully digital bank and they say, okay, it's great, I can take a picture of my check to deposit it.

You can go to an ATM to take money out for free in a surcharge free network that we participate in. Can you see all the online banking and move money between accounts? But a lot of individuals maybe make you know cash earnings. Maybe they sell some things or do services on the weekend or whenever and they get paid in cash or tip money, or maybe, you know, I sold a sofa on the weekend, you know, on you know online and now I've got a few hundred bucks. You know, how do you get that into your online account?

We have solved for that through a service called that we offer called ⁓ Old Glory Cash In. And there are about 88,000 retail locations our customers can walk into and just by showing their mobile app, ⁓ a barcode is scanned and can hand the cashier scans it like I'm buying a cap a pack of gum and ⁓ immediately let's say I hand over $300. it's free to the customer, our customer so long as it's $200 or more.

And that is immediately credited into the account as a free deposit. If there were an ATM outside of that retail store, the money would already be available. I could pull it out within seconds of walking from inside to outside. So really has solved for every possible need an individual might have for otherwise feeling they they might need to walk into a physical.

speaker-0 (13:49)
branch. Yeah, that's fantastic. That's that's that was gonna be one of my questions. How do you solve for the the cash in hand?

speaker-1 (13:54)
And personally so

this is a legitimate issue and we've solved it in a beautiful way.

speaker-0 (13:58)
Yeah,

fantastic. Well, there are some people who might be out there thinking, I don't I'm not engaged in the firearms business, I don't engage in transactions that the government might care about. I just buy groceries and pay my Sure, sure. Why would I switch banks to a a bank like Old Glory? I I I mean I may share values with Old Glory but but how does that help what other ancillary benefits might there be to that person? Like ⁓ obviously I'm thinking of things like Old Glory's probably not gonna be lobbying

Or for things that invade their person's privacy.

speaker-1 (14:33)
Sure, actually, ⁓ to the contrary, one of my co-founders in the bank, our CEO Mike Ring, testified in the Senate hearing last year that was on the issue of debank. And ⁓ actually, you know, everyone's probably familiar with the Senate hearings being filmed where the you know executives are on one side of the table and the senators are out there grilling them. And my partner Mike Ring was talking against the big banks, talking against the whole culture of de-banking, really fighting for the rights of

individuals to operate in the financial system. that discussion also got into ⁓ some egregious violations of privacy of personal transaction data of customers that ⁓ customers of the big banks were subjected to voluntarily ⁓ having their data shared by B of A, Chase, City, Wells Fargo, PNC, Key Bank, all the big banks ⁓ a year or two, a couple years ago going back to January 6th.

were voluntarily sharing data with the big banks of who shopped at a outdoor store like Cabela's or or ⁓ Bass Pro Shop and therefore might be a firearms owner. ⁓ or or just maybe happened to buy a cup of coffee in D C in January of twenty twenty one and therefore might have been up to some bad behavior. Just these crazy assumptions or presumptions of of guilt ⁓ of data being voluntarily shared. And so one thing ⁓ I

like to communicate to individuals is if if you don't want to be subjected to that, if you don't ⁓ believe in banks ⁓ actions that that I just described, then come to a bank that is completely opposed to that, that has people involved in it who are adamantly ⁓ adamant defenders of financial liberty and freedoms. Old Glory Bank is the bank

for them. ⁓ Similarly, we do much more than you know just proclaim our love of country and and the flag. As much as I enjoy that and I respect those who do and and we do that all day long. I think it's important to tangibly do things as well beyond that. ⁓ For example, Old Glory Bank offers a product called Old Glory Protect.

which is a a free product or free service for any customer of ours who is what we call a protector generally speaking. That's any member of the military, all branches including reserve, ⁓ any member of of a first responder unit, you know, police, firefighters, ⁓ border patrol agents, you know, that general audience of protectors, any of them who bank at Old Glory Bank.

⁓ and do a little bit of direct deposit just to demonstrate they actually are using the bank.

for free gets a one hundred thousand dollar line of duty death benefit. So God forbid should something happen to one of those individuals ⁓ in the line of duty where they lose their life, ⁓ their selected beneficiaries, family members or whoever they've identified, receives one hundred thousand dollars as a payout from a policy that we the bank have been paying the premium for ⁓ just for banking with us. And so ⁓ I would say for any protectors

Th it's why wouldn't you come get a free account at Old Gory Bank and get that added benefit ⁓ just to add on to anything else you might have in place and then more broadly to the general population we encourage people to come to the bank that protect those who protect you.

speaker-0 (18:02)
Yeah, yeah, fantastic. one of the things that we talked about pre show was ⁓ sort of forward thinking technology, ⁓ obviously the app, you you promoted the app and how how fantastic that is. a lot one thing that a lot of people are starting to think about is stable coins, crypto, bitcoin. What what engagement has Old Glory had in that arena?

speaker-1 (18:28)
Well.

We are just a couple months from rolling out ⁓ some groundbreaking, and it's surprising a smaller bank like Old Roy Bank because we're so tech oriented, we're essentially a fintech that also is a bank. We are very have a very robust set of tools that we'll be rolling out, ⁓ fully integrating traditional banking with crypto and stablecoin and blockchain banking. ⁓ so ⁓ soon to come out.

out and and any viewer can go to our website, oldglorybank.com not just to learn about opening an account but also to learn about ⁓ can learn about what I'm just about to describe. We have a full video recorded video demonstration of what I'll I'll just

speaker-0 (19:13)
And I'll link to that in the show notes.

speaker-1 (19:14)
Yeah, please please do. And it's called next gen banking. and soon what our customers will be able to do is within our banking environment, whether it's online, you know, through through ⁓ laptop, desktop, or else mobile access, be able to not only see your checking and savings balances and move money and your credit card transactions and view traditional banking, but then also ⁓ engage in cryptocurrencies and buy and sell.

you know, Ethereum or or ⁓ you know Bitcoin or or XRP, what whatever you might want to do, or stable coin and we'll be issuing our own stable coin. The Genius Act really defined a important role for banks going forward as ⁓ essentially the de facto issuers of stablecoin which for ⁓ you know those who might not be as familiar with it's it's it's analogous to a electronic ⁓

cashier's check. It's it's a it's representative of real money elsewhere. So a digital tokenized version of true deposits that are not just susceptible to ⁓ the whims of what Bitcoin might be worth or so forth. But the Genius Act defined that stable coin must be one for one, you know, hundred percent offset by real cash balances or treasuries that are very liquid. So not ninety-three days or

speaker-0 (20:38)
And not in a fractional sense.

speaker-1 (20:39)
Not into being lent out and you know susceptible to bad loans and so forth. So it essentially is digital cash, USD, that will not fluctuate because it is by law, by the Genius Act requiring. ⁓ and so for us, it is the ultimate delivery of what we have always preached, which is financial liberty. It's privacy, security, and liberty, and for our customers who do value that.

their personal agency, their own autonomy to have control of their funds and not be susceptible to the prying eyes of big government or the prying eyes of of you know the the card networks ⁓ or the big banks reporting their transactions elsewhere. ⁓ It really does deliver this personal autonomy and we'll soon be rolling that out. It's called Old Glory ⁓ or next gen banking through Old Glory Bank.

⁓ that we'll be rolling out shortly and I encourage people to take a look at that at OldGlory Bank dot com. ⁓ one one thing I I do want to add that in addition to the technology and and the online banking experience, mobile banking experience that I covered, because we don't have a branch network ⁓ that's not our business model, it's a digital business model allows us to invest in that technology much more so than your typical community bank. But then also we invest

in ⁓ personal ⁓ customer support and so our call center we have a very robust call center that's based in Oklahoma ⁓ really easy to communicate with and engage with to solve issues that come up ordinarily you know ordinarily ordinary course of business things might come up you have a question about ⁓ and so really good customer service really good technology and a set of values that that are meaningful to to your audience.

speaker-0 (22:30)
Yeah, fantastic. One thing I I neglected to ask earlier and talking about sort of payment rails here and how stable coins can be beneficial in that way from a privacy standpoint ⁓ and from a censorship standpoint, one thing that I I know that a lot of gun companies struggle with is all right, you have a decent banking relationship, but what about the point of sale, the transaction, the merchant services? Yes. Does Old Glory Bank help facilitate that in any way?

speaker-1 (22:57)
We we we do and ⁓ in ⁓ one current way and then ⁓ one coming up that we'll be rolling out. ⁓ presently we offer Old Glory Pay, which is essentially a cancel-proof version of PayPal. So ⁓ customers of Old Glory Bank ⁓ have the ability and and to the extent a merchant is also a customer of Old Glory Bank, so kind of customer to customer, we have just our own direct closed loop system that

gives comfort to the consumer who knows that because it's Old Glory Bank that transaction is not going to be submitted to you know to the feds. Now I point out if we're presented with a lawful subpoena, we are respectful of the Constitution. We're a law and order bank. We certainly would honor if we feel it's a legitimate lawful subpoena. But again, that's not what the big banks we're engaging in.

so we provide that comfort to our customers and the merchants to give that ability ⁓ to to have transactions that ⁓ are first of all very price ⁓ beneficial to the to the merchant but then to the customer ⁓ a very safe closed loop system. but more broadly ⁓ as we roll out that next gen banking that I described that'll be in the in the coming months will give the ability for PayPal to be utilized ⁓

with or excuse me with old glory pay our version of PayPal can be utilized even using the the stable coin and really fly over the top of you know any of the traditional rails of ACH and and ⁓ what the you know the NATCA sees or the Federal Reserve C

speaker-0 (24:34)
Fantastic.

Yeah, fantastic. Well, Eric Olhausen, I really appreciate you being here today. Is there anything we haven't discussed that you think our listeners need to need to know?

speaker-1 (24:42)
Sure. real briefly I'll say for for NRA we have a direct partnership with the NRA. Not only are we exhibiting here at the NRA for several years in a row now, we also have in place a partnership for members of the NRA who are businesses. they their group is called business alliance ⁓ or the clubs and associations and it's quite a few

Clubs and associations and businesses who are members of the NRA and if they are, one of the benefits because of this partnership is a 20% reduction in our generic general fee structure. And so ⁓ while we have free accounts, naturally if you're a business and you're having more transactions and a lot of checks being processed and so forth, there's some basic fees or there ⁓ and so we we do reduce those fees for members of the NRA and ⁓ for the businesses and clubs and associations.

So fantastic.

go public. We anticipate in the next couple months for ⁓ to be a Nasdaq traded stock, OGB, for old for Old Glory Bank. And currently we announced this in January, have a ⁓ D S what's called a D SPAC transaction that's in process now that should ⁓ within a couple months ⁓ enable us to be a publicly traded stock that ⁓ any viewer can become an owner ⁓ just directly through whatever mechanisms they use to be stock

speaker-0 (26:09)
Yeah, fantastic. Well thanks so much for being here, Eric. ⁓ appreciate you and and the work that you're doing with Old Glory Bank. and obviously would encourage our listeners to go and check out Old Glory Bank. I'll I'll link to the ⁓ to the bank's website in in the show notes as well as the video that you mentioned about the stable coins. Great. and anything else you'd like me to link to, I'll link to in the show notes.

speaker-1 (26:28)
No,

that's and just old glorybank dot com people can learn all about everything. But thank you, Alex. I appreciate your your interest in what

speaker-0 (26:35)
Doing yeah, I'm glad we can meet and chat here at the NRA annual meeting. Yeah, great, thank you. Thanks bunch. ⁓ all right, thanks for everybody for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed the conversation. If you care about ⁓ free banking and free money without censorship, without you know privacy violations at a bank that shares your values, you know, definitely encourage you to go check out Old Glory Bank. until next time, remember you are the forge of freedom.