FDIC Approves Augustus National Bank; Juno Moneta Named

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation approved deposit insurance for Augustus National Bank, N.A. in an order dated July 31, 2026. The order designates the bank’s subsidiary, Juno Moneta, to provide stablecoin-related services. Federal Reserve approval of the bank’s holding company remains outstanding. The FDIC approval covers deposit insurance for the national bank only and does not authorize the issuance of stablecoins.

The FDIC set a minimum paid-in capital requirement of $73.66 million and required the bank to maintain a leverage ratio of at least 10% under the community bank leverage ratio for its first three years. The agency raised the minimum capital level from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s earlier figure of $52.5 million. The FDIC order includes standard de novo conditions: the agency must approve proposed management changes, it must sign off on transfers of 10% or more of the bank’s stock, and the institution has one year to open. The order also requires proposed executives who are not U.S. citizens or residents to sign documents consenting to FDIC supervision.

The OCC granted conditional charter approval on May 8, 2026. Before the bank can open, the Federal Reserve must approve the holding company, Augustus must pass a pre-opening examination, and the bank must fund the required capital. Augustus cannot accept insured deposits or begin stablecoin operations until those steps are complete and any separate approvals for the stablecoin business are obtained.

Augustus plans to operate without branches as a clearing and settlement institution for institutional clients. The bank’s business plan lists deposit and lending products, virtual currency services, payments and treasury services aimed at digital asset firms, high-net-worth individuals, artificial intelligence companies, technology companies and international financial institutions. Funding sources cited in filings include demand deposit accounts, for-benefit-of accounts and correspondent relationships rather than retail branch deposits.

Juno Moneta is described in regulatory filings as the unit responsible for issuance and redemption of in-house and partner stablecoins, plus custody, conversion and payment functions. Regulators noted in May that Juno Moneta had not filed an application to be a permitted payment stablecoin issuer under the GENIUS Act. Any token issuance will require a separate application under that law and compliance with proposed FDIC standards covering reserves, redemption, capital and risk management. The FDIC emphasized that tokens issued by Juno Moneta would rely on reserve backing and statutory issuer requirements rather than FDIC deposit insurance.

Augustus began as the German payments startup Ivy and completed a $180 million Series B fundraising in July 2026. Leadership includes co-founder Ferdinand Dabitz and former Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Randal Quarles. Ferdinand Dabitz described the bank as “Legacy banks are made of paper, Augustus is made of code.”

Some banking observers raised questions about the model. William Chittenden, director at the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking Foundation, said he had not seen a successful payments-only, stablecoin-centric bank and questioned the plausibility of the business plan. Critics also point to concentration risk in a deposit base tied to digital asset and technology sectors and note that clearing and settlement businesses have thin margins at scale. Augustus will also face compliance and capital costs as it pursues a separate stablecoin issuer authorization.

Regulatory actions over the past year provide context for the approvals. Federal agencies removed advance notification requirements for certain crypto activities, and the OCC has confirmed that national banks may offer crypto custody and some stablecoin services without a prior supervisory non-objection. The FDIC proposed rules for permitted payment stablecoin issuers in April and has proposed applying Bank Secrecy Act anti-money-laundering and sanctions requirements to those issuers. Augustus’ charter places its planned digital asset activity inside the federal banking perimeter and subjects it to bank capital, liquidity, governance and anti-money-laundering rules.

Remaining steps for Augustus include Federal Reserve approval of the holding company, a successful pre-opening examination, funding of the required capital and a formal application for Juno Moneta to be a permitted payment stablecoin issuer under the GENIUS Act. Until those actions are complete, the bank cannot begin operations or issue stablecoins.