Augustus, a stablecoin and AI-focused financial technology firm, has secured conditional approval from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a national bank charter and raised $40 million in a new funding round.
"Legacy banks are made of paper, Augustus is made of code," Ferdinand Dabitz, CEO and Co-Founder of Augustus, said. "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."
The $40 million financing was backed by Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures, Creandum, and the founders of financial technology companies Ramp, Deel, and Circle. The OCC charter is a significant milestone, as fewer than 10 full-service national bank charters have been granted in the US since 2010. Augustus joins a small group of crypto-native firms, including Anchorage Digital and BitGo, that hold federal charters.
The approval allows Augustus to establish Augustus Bank, N.A., positioning it to upgrade what it calls a "broken" distribution system for the US dollar. The firm argues that while global demand for the dollar is nearly infinite, the existing clearing model, which is closed 115 days a year, is built for humans and is too slow for the emerging "agentic economy" powered by AI.
At the helm of the newly chartered bank, 25-year-old co-founder and Thiel Fellow Ferdinand Dabitz is set to become the youngest CEO of a federally chartered bank in over 140 years.
To navigate the complex regulatory environment, Augustus has assembled a team of seasoned banking executives. Greg Quarles, the former CEO of Green Dot Bank and a veteran of 18 years at the OCC, will serve as the bank's President. He is joined by CFO Joe Schenone, who previously helped transform LendingClub and Smartbiz into banks, and Chief Risk Officer Kyle Steed, a former bank regulator.
"My main insight from 30 years in banking—including 18 at the OCC...is that it is incredibly hard to rethink banking from the inside," said Quarles. "To re-design banking from first principles, you have to build from scratch. This is why I'm proud to be part of Augustus."
Augustus's core thesis is that AI agents will need a bank "made of code." The company has built a proprietary core banking system designed for durable, agent-initiated workflows, a departure from legacy systems built for human requests. The passage of the GENIUS Act, which allows banks to interact with stablecoins, provides the regulatory rails for this new model.
The firm is already regulated and live with euro clearing in Europe, serving clients such as the digital asset exchange Kraken. With the US charter, Augustus will be able to add US dollar clearing to its platform, which offers 24/7 transactions and programmable, real-time settlement.
This move comes as the infrastructure for Western currencies faces growing competition from networks like China's Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS), which now connects 4,800 banks, and the anticipated BRICS Pay system. Augustus aims to secure Western currency dominance by modernizing its underlying infrastructure.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
