Augustus Receives OCC Conditional Approval to Charter the First Clearing Bank For The AI Era

Augustus is re-thinking clearing for the AI era—built from the ground up for global, always-on access to programmable money.

Ferdinand Dabitz, 25, to become youngest CEO of federally chartered bank in over 100 Years.

NEW YORK, May 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Augustus (formerly known as Ivy), announced that it has received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish Augustus Bank, N.A. as a full-service US national bank. Augustus Bank N.A. will be the world's first clearing bank for the AI era, built on a stablecoin and AI-native core—a bank that's always open, made for machines, at the speed of compute. 

Augustus Bank N.A. will be designed for global financial institutions that need instant, always-on, programmable clearing of major Western currencies. Augustus's thesis is simple: the dollar is the best product in the history of the world, with practically infinite global demand—but distribution is broken. The existing clearing model runs on legacy correspondents that are closed 115 days a year, built for humans, and take two days to settle. Augustus is the update to the AI era.

Augustus's proprietary core banking system is built from scratch around AI and programmable money—rethinking the bank core as a system of action. Legacy cores were built in a pre-AI era and architected for stateless, short-lived, human-initiated requests. Augustus' core banking infrastructure is made for machines: designed from the ground up for durable, non-deterministic, agent-initiated workflows—unlocking near autonomous operations at scale.

Augustus's subsidiaries are already regulated in Europe and live with Euro clearing today. Last year, Augustus experienced 10x growth year over year while processing billions. Once Augustus Bank N.A. becomes fully licensed and operational, Augustus will be able to add U.S. dollars, the world's primary reserve currency, to its platform. Today, Augustus already serves some of the world's largest global financial institutions, such as the digital asset exchange Kraken.

In the future, AI agents made of code will need a bank made of code. Augustus has the technology to become the composable, global money layer to power agentic economies at scale.

Co-Founder Ferdinand Dabitz, a Thiel Fellow, will serve as Augustus Bank's CEO and will become the youngest CEO of a federally chartered bank in modern American history (140 years). Greg Quarles will serve as President of the Bank. Quarles is the former CEO of Green Dot Bank, United Texas Bank, and H&R Block Bank. Prior to that, Quarles spent 18 years at the OCC, where he served as a commissioned National Bank Examiner and Assistant Deputy Comptroller. The pair is joined by additional industry veterans. Joe Schenone, who will serve as the Bank's CFO, brings extensive regulatory experience through his tenure at JPMorgan Chase and MUFG. He is regarded as one of the few finance leaders in America who has successfully transformed two technology companies into banks—both LendingClub and Smartbiz. Andy Riggs, who will serve as the Bank's Chief Credit Officer, was on the founding team of Brex's Asset Management business, among other active lending institutions. Kyle Steed, who will serve as Chief Risk Officer, is a seasoned financial services executive and former bank regulator who was most recently Interim Chief Risk Officer at United Texas Bank. Bruce Wallace, who will serve on the bank's board, brings previous advisory and board director experience from Brex and Revolut.

Since 2010, less than 10 full-service national charters have been granted in the US. The average bank in America is over 100 years old. Fintechs were constrained to innovate on the frontend, while the bare-metal core banking and money layer was left in the hands of decade-old incumbents. At the same time, the GENIUS Act now allows banks to interact with stablecoins, enabling the creation of a new category of full banks that are built from the ground up around programmable money. 

Augustus's mission is to secure and advance Western currency dominance by upgrading clearing to the AI era. Today, 90% of global trade is invoiced in euros or dollars. Global dominance of Western currencies is an essential instrument of soft power for the West. But the friction introduced by the legacy clearing model puts this dominant position at risk. Augustus has received preliminary conditional approval to establish a national bank at a moment in time when the infrastructure underpinning Western currencies faces growing competition. China's CIPS network now links 4,800 banks. Russia-driven BRICS Pay is set to launch in 2026, facilitating cross-border transactions that bypass SWIFT and the dollar entirely. Augustus is built to upgrade Western clearing infrastructure to the internet era and secure Western currency dominance for the decades to come.

"Legacy banks are made of paper, Augustus is made of code. It's obvious we need to upgrade clearing to the AI era. But only this unique regulatory moment at the intersection of US financial regulatory innovation, the Genius Act, and AI enables us to finally do so," said Ferdinand Dabitz, CEO and Co-Founder of Augustus.

Greg Quarles, President of Augustus, said, "My main insight from 30 years in banking—including 18 at the OCC, chartering H&R Block Bank, and serving as CEO at Green Dot and United Texas Bank—is that it is incredibly hard to rethink banking from the inside. To re-design banking from first principles, you have to build from scratch. This is why I'm proud to be part of Augustus. I'm grateful to the OCC for its leadership—they have recognized that a lot has changed since the great financial crisis essentially paused American new bank creation. It's time to build new banks again."

"Legacy banks move simple money, Augustus moves smart money. For decades, fintechs innovated on the front end, building applications on top of 20th century infrastructure. Augustus is a break from the past—a nationally chartered US bank built from scratch around a truly modern core: programmable, autonomous, and always on—a true system of action. We're seeing the demand already today, and the advent of the agentic economy will only accelerate this further," said James Fitzgerald, Founder and Managing Partner, Valar Ventures.

About Augustus 
Augustus is building the first clearing bank for the AI era, built on a stablecoin- and AI-native core, enabling real-time settlement, 24/7 transactions, and programmable money. Augustus is processing billions for global financial institutions like Kraken today. Augustus was founded in 2022 by Ferdinand Dabitz, Joshua Becker, Simon Wimmer, and Peter Lieck, and has raised $40 million. They're backed by Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures, Creandum, and the founders of companies like Ramp, Deel, and Circle.

Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Augustus