Dr. Ozan Özerk
Founder, MSB USA Inc.
Dr. Ozan Özerk founded MSB USA Inc. in 2017 — establishing his independently licensed presence in the United States payment market before most of his contemporaries had identified the opportunity.
MSB USA Inc. is registered with the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) as a money services business and holds money transmitter licences across 45 US states. The company provides banking account rails and payment solutions to business customers requiring direct, compliant access to US payment infrastructure. MSB USA Inc. is headquartered at 500 North Central Expressway, Suite 500, Dallas, Texas, and sits within a broader portfolio of regulated financial businesses operating across Europe, the United States, Asia, and Africa.
Background
Özerk trained as a physician at the University of Oslo and served as a Ranger in the Norwegian Armed Forces, followed by service in the Norwegian Home Guard’s Rapid Response Unit. He practised as an emergency room doctor in Norway until 2015 — a background that shaped a disciplined, high-accountability approach to institution building.
His entrepreneurial career began during his medical studies. In 2005 he co-founded Norsk Ideutvikling — the company behind Biip.no, one of Norway’s largest social networks, which at its peak reached the majority of the country’s youth online. Biip.no was acquired by Egmont and Nettavisen in 2008 for an estimated valuation exceeding 100 million Norwegian krone.
In 2015, Özerk left medicine and committed entirely to financial technology. In 2016, he initiated the banking licence application process for European Merchant Bank — a process that would require more than two years of regulatory preparation and due diligence before the European Central Bank granted the licence in late 2018. That same year he founded Lydiax, one of the world’s earliest platforms for businesses to process payments across cryptocurrency rails, and the foundation of what is today Bitpace. MSB USA Inc. was established in 2017, extending his regulatory footprint into the United States ahead of the 2018 consolidation of his European ventures under the OpenPayd brand.
Portfolio
MSB.us sits alongside a portfolio of complementary businesses that collectively hold active licences from the European Central Bank, FinCEN, CySEC, and crypto-asset regulators — spanning Banking as a Service, ECB-licensed institutional banking, crypto payment infrastructure, and regulated trading.
OpenPayd
Founded in 2018 as the umbrella for financial infrastructure Dr. Özerk had been building since 2015 and 2016, OpenPayd is a Banking as a Service and embedded finance platform processing over $220 billion annually across 30+ jurisdictions. It provides businesses with multi-currency IBANs, FX, payment rails, and digital assets through a single API. Headquartered in London with offices in Bulgaria, Malta, France, and the United States.
European Merchant Bank (EMBank)
An ECB-licensed bank headquartered in Vilnius, Lithuania. The licence application was initiated in early 2016; the European Central Bank granted the licence in late November 2018 following a rigorous two-year-plus regulatory process. EMBank holds over €210 million in assets, maintains over 100 banking partnerships, and serves fintechs and SMEs across Europe with Banking as a Service infrastructure and direct banking services.
Bitpace
Founded in 2016 under the name Lydiax — making it one of the world’s oldest crypto payment companies — Bitpace operates a global licence infrastructure across multiple jurisdictions, enabling businesses across e-commerce, financial services, iGaming, travel, and real estate to accept 75+ cryptocurrencies and settle in EUR, GBP, USD, and other major fiat currencies. Rebranded as Bitpace in 2023.
Recognition & Engagement
Dr. Özerk has been a member of Forbes Finance Council since 2021, contributing regularly on embedded finance, Banking as a Service, crypto payment infrastructure, and AI in financial operations.
In 2025, he was named Enterprise Entrepreneur at the 13th Enterprise Awards Dinner — held at Drapers’ Hall in London, one of the most recognised founder ceremonies in the UK technology industry.
He engages with financial regulators and policymakers across multiple jurisdictions on the future of digital assets, cross-border payment infrastructure, and embedded finance. He has participated in policy meetings in Washington D.C. as part of the UK-US Crypto Alliance delegation and engages with the FCA, ECB, and SEC on regulatory matters relevant to his portfolio.
Further Reading
Full biography and company portfolio
