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World’s first clearing bank for the AI era: Augustus receives conditional full service bank charter from the OCC

Tuesday 12 May, 2026

New York - 
Augustus, formerly known as Ivy, has received conditional approval
from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the US federal
banking regulator, 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 – the interbank money flows currently dominated by a handful
of major institutions.



The backbone of this business still runs on settlement systems dating
back to the 1970s. SWIFT was founded in 1973; CHIPS dates back to 1970.
These systems only operate during bank hours on working days, leaving
them inactive for roughly 115 days a year. More than 90 per cent of
global clearing volumes pass through just ten banks, including J.P.
Morgan, Citi, and Deutsche Bank. The cost of these inefficiencies is
primarily borne by companies in emerging markets that do not use the US
dollar or the euro as their official currency, yet are still heavily
dependent on them. By contrast, Augustus's stablecoin and AI-native core
infrastructure enables real-time settlement, round-the-clock
transactions, and programmable financial workflows.



In Europe, Augustus is authorised as a payment institution and currently
handles euro clearing for global financial institutions. The full
service bank charter will add US dollar capabilities. Last year,
Augustus experienced 10x growth year over year while processing
billions. The company expects to process an additional annual volume
worth billions within a few months.



Geopolitical pressure on the Western payments system



The charter arrives at a time of mounting pressure on Western payment
infrastructure. China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) has
expanded rapidly, reaching 193 direct and 1,573 indirect participants by
the end of 2025. Through those connections, CIPS now covers more than
5,000 banks across over 190 countries and regions. According to CIPS
data, the average daily volumes hit approximately US$130 billion in
March 2026, setting a record high.



On top of that, BRICS Pay is slated for launch in 2026. It is designed
to link national payment systems such as Brazil’s Pix, Russia’s SPFS,
and China’s CIPS, processing payments that bypass both SWIFT and the
dollar entirely. Russia was excluded from SWIFT in 2022 and has since
built its own systems. According to the Bank for International
Settlements (BIS), the number of active correspondent banks in the
Western system has fallen by around 30 per cent since 2011.



“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 of Augustus.



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.

Press contact Augustus


Sophia Schmitt


Email: [email protected]



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