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Building the First Federally Chartered Crypto Bank: Sedicii’s Enterprise GTM Playbook

Most crypto companies in 2017 were chasing retail customers and quick wins. Rob Leslie Founder & CEO at Sedicii made a contrarian bet: focus exclusively on institutions, build for extreme security, and play the long regulatory game. That decision would eventually lead them to become the first federally chartered crypto bank in US history.

Starting with a Contrarian Thesis

When Rob and his co-founders started Sedicii, they made a deliberate choice that would define their entire GTM strategy. “We had this thesis early on that institutions were going to be the ones that were going to drive this industry forward,” Rob explains. “And so we focused exclusively on institutions from day one.”

This wasn’t just about target market selection. It fundamentally shaped how they built their product, their sales motion, and their relationship with regulators. While competitors chased retail customers with consumer-friendly apps, Anchorage was building institutional-grade custody infrastructure that could meet the security and compliance requirements of the world’s largest financial institutions.

The Cold Start Problem: Getting Your First Enterprise Customers

Landing enterprise customers in crypto presented a unique challenge. Rob needed to convince traditional financial institutions to trust a startup with their digital assets—assets that most of them were just beginning to understand. “We basically had to go out and convince people that we were the right team to build this,” Rob says.

Their approach was methodical and relationship-driven. The founding team leveraged their networks, but more importantly, they invested heavily in education. “We spent a lot of time educating the market on what custody is, why it matters, what the risks are,” Rob explains. They weren’t just selling a product—they were teaching institutions how to think about digital asset infrastructure.

This educational approach paid dividends. Their first customers became advocates, helping them expand into new segments. “Once you get a few customers, they start referring you to other customers,” Rob notes. But he’s quick to add a critical caveat: “You have to make sure you’re delivering a really good product and really good service.”

Building Product Through Customer Obsession

Anchorage’s product development strategy was deeply intertwined with their GTM approach. Rather than building features speculatively, they let customer needs drive their roadmap. “We were very customer-obsessed from the beginning,” Rob says. “We would basically build whatever our customers needed.”

This created a powerful flywheel. By solving real problems for their early enterprise customers, they built features that made the platform more attractive to future customers. “Every time we added a new feature, it made the product better for everyone,” Rob explains.

But this approach required discipline. They had to balance customization with scalability. “You can’t just build custom stuff for every single customer,” Rob acknowledges. “You have to figure out what the common problems are and build products that solve those common problems.”

The Regulatory Long Game

Perhaps the most distinctive aspect of Anchorage’s strategy was their approach to regulation. While many crypto companies treated regulation as an obstacle to avoid, Anchorage embraced it as a competitive advantage. “We always believed that regulation was coming and that the companies that were prepared for it were going to be the winners,” Rob says.

This philosophy culminated in their pursuit of a federal banking charter—a process that took years and required enormous investment. “We spent probably two years working on getting our charter,” Rob reveals. “It was a massive undertaking.”

The payoff was significant. Becoming the first federally chartered crypto bank gave them credibility that no marketing campaign could buy. “Having that charter opened up a lot of doors for us,” Rob notes. “It gave us credibility with institutions that otherwise would have been very skeptical.”

Scaling Enterprise Sales

As Anchorage grew, they had to evolve their sales approach. Early on, the founders were doing most of the selling. “In the beginning, it was just us,” Rob says. “We were the salespeople, we were the product people, we were the customer support people.”

Building a sales team for highly technical, regulated products required a specific approach. They looked for people who could navigate complex enterprise sales cycles and understand both traditional finance and crypto. “You need people who can talk to a CFO or a treasurer at a large institution and understand their problems,” Rob explains.

They also invested in building repeatable processes. “You have to have a methodology,” Rob says. “You have to have a way of qualifying leads, a way of moving them through the funnel, a way of closing deals.”

The Evolution to Banking

The decision to pursue a banking charter wasn’t just about regulatory compliance—it was a strategic GTM move. “Being a bank allows you to do things that non-banks can’t do,” Rob explains. “It gives you access to different types of customers, different types of products.”

This positioned Anchorage to serve institutions that required the highest levels of regulatory compliance and oversight. “There are certain customers that will only work with federally chartered institutions,” Rob notes. “So having that charter was essential for us to serve those customers.”

Lessons on Enterprise GTM in Emerging Markets

Rob’s experience offers several key insights for founders building in emerging markets. First, be willing to educate your market. “You can’t assume that people understand what you’re building,” he says. “You have to be willing to spend time educating them.”

Second, embrace regulation rather than fighting it. “If you’re building in a regulated industry, you need to work with regulators, not against them,” Rob advises. “The companies that try to avoid regulation usually end up having problems down the road.”

Finally, focus on delivering exceptional service to early customers. “In enterprise, your reputation is everything,” Rob emphasizes. “If you do a good job for your first customers, they’ll help you get your next customers. If you do a bad job, word travels fast.”

Sedicii’s journey from startup to federally chartered bank demonstrates that in emerging markets, the companies that win aren’t always the fastest or the flashiest. Sometimes, they’re the ones willing to do the hard work of building trust, embracing regulation, and obsessively serving their customers’ needs.