Evolve Bank & Trust

Evolve Bank & Trust, formerly First State Bank,^[4] is an American bank headquartered in West Memphis, Arkansas. It is best known since 2010 for partnering with fintech companies to offer banking services to their customers.^[3] Evolve has been recognized multiple times as an Inc. 5000 company^[5] and has also received several honors from Top Workplace USA.^[6]

In 2024, Evolve Bank faced scrutiny due to freezing funds of certain fintech customers, including Yotta and Juno, which restricted access to over 100ドル million held in customer accounts. This incident attracted public attention as many impacted customers eventually received only minimal fund access, leading to widespread frustration and media coverage.^[7]

Evolve's Chief Marketing & Communications Officer resigned in October 2024, citing his "integrity and well-being" as a cause. ^[8]

Founded in Parkin in 1925 as First State Bank,^[9] the bank provided loans to local farmers in Cross County, Arkansas. In 1934, it became a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.^[4]

In 2005, First State Bank was renamed to Evolve Bank & Trust^[4] after a group led by Chairman Scot Lenoir acquired it. The bank then relocated its banking charter to West Memphis.^[9]

In 2017, Evolve established its Open Banking division to provide Banking-as-a-Service.^[9] Evolve serves as the partner bank for fintech companies like Branch, Marqeta,^[10] Mercury,^[11] and Stripe.^[12] Evolve Open Banking also provides card services offerings, allowing companies to white-label Mastercard, Visa, and American Express cards.^[13]

In 2022, Evolve was ranked #1 in trust departments in Arkansas, surpassing Simmons Bank, according to Arkansas Business.^[14]

In June 2024, the Federal Reserve Board issued an enforcement action against the bank for deficiencies in their anti–money laundering, risk management, and consumer compliance programs.^{[15] [16]}

Also, in June 2024, Evolve announced it was the victim of a data breach by the cybercrime group LockBit.^{[17] [3] [18]} Some of its corporate fintech clients, including Affirm,^[19] Mercury ^[20] and Wise ^{[21] [22]} also announced their customers were affected by the breach.^[23]

In September 2024, Evolve’s partner Synapse Financial Technologies, accused the bank of misappropriating customer funds.^[24] Synapse had declared bankruptcy the previous spring, after previously serving as the banking as a service platform connecting Evolve to multiple fintech startups, including Yotta and Juno.

After Synapse’s bankruptcy in April 2024, Evolve froze withdrawals from partner apps, claiming inaccurate accounting prevented the bank from knowing which funds belonged to which account holders.^[25] This move left tens of thousands of users without access to their bank accounts for 5 months while Evolve performed reconciliation.^[26] After the reconciliation was complete, it was announced that tens of millions of dollars deposited with Evolve Bank ^[27] remained unaccounted for. Consumers affected formed several groups including Fight For Our Funds ^[28] and Reddit r/yotta ^[29] to attempt to recover an estimated 49,337,925ドル million lost by 6389 users, compiled from site form submissions to fightforourfunds.org.^[30]

Evolve Open Banking ranked as a Nacha Top 50 Originator in both 2022^[31] and 2023.^[32] Additionally, Evolve was recognized as the Most Innovative Bank of 2023 by the Tearsheet Awards.^[33]

• Banks based in Arkansas
• 1925 establishments in Arkansas
• Banks established in 1925
• American companies established in 1925
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