Another charter in the AI-stablecoin race
Augustus, a Peter Thiel-backed payments startup formerly known as Ivy, has received rare conditional OCC approval to form a U.S. national bank focused on AI-driven payments and stablecoin settlement. Augustus’s pitch is that it’s a “clearing bank for the AI era,” built for a world where software agents move money automatically instead of humans pushing payments through legacy rails that close on nights, weekends, and holidays. It is still conditional approval, so the charter is not live yet, but the direction fits the broader theme we’ve been tracking – Stripe’s Bridge, Kraken, Coinbase, Ripple, Circle, Erebor, and now Augustus are all trying to bring stablecoin, custody, and payment infrastructure under federal regulatory oversight. Read more →
Banks make a last push
Banks are making a last-minute push to change the Clarity Act before Thursday’s Senate Banking Committee markup, with American Bankers Association CEO Rob Nichols sending an emergency letter to bank CEOs urging them to pressure senators over the bill’s stablecoin yield language. Crypto allies argue the banks already won the core concession and are now trying to reopen the deal at the finish line. Even if the bill clears committee, it still needs 60 Senate votes, reconciliation with the Senate Agriculture Committee’s version, alignment with the House-passed bill, and a presidential signature – with the White House targeting July 4 for passage. Read more →
XRP ETFs see their biggest day in months
Spot XRP ETFs saw their strongest single-day inflow since January on Monday, pulling in about $25.8 million across three funds. Franklin Templeton’s XRPZ led with $13.6 million, followed by Bitwise’s XRP fund at $7.6 million and Grayscale’s GXRP at $4.6 million. The flows come as XRP tries to regain some momentum after a rough stretch – the token is up about 1.5% over the last 24 hours, but is still down ~40% over the past six months. That probably explains the muted price reaction – $26 million is notable for the ETF category, but still small relative to XRP’s overall market. Read more →
📥️ Want to advertise in CoinSnacks? Learn More