What if your savings account was so secure that even your account number couldn’t be used to steal from you? That’s the kind of question Austin Capital Bank is answering; Not by thinking like a traditional bank, but by operating more like a tech company.
In her debut interview on Travillian Next, Amber Buker, Chief of Research at Travillian, sits down with Erik Beguin, Founder and CEO of Austin Capital Bank, to dig into the launch of their latest innovation: Fort Knox, a high-security savings account engineered to be fraud-resistant by design. Instead of competing in the high-yield arms race, Erik and his team are creating a whole new category, one that prioritizes safety over speed and uses product design to outsmart fraudsters. Backed by a 50-person engineering team and built to withstand quantum-era threats, this conversation rewrites what a “community bank” even means.
Available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or read the full summary with timestamps below.
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(00:00) Why Security > Convenience
Erik explains why speed and convenience often come at the expense of security in modern banking and why Austin Capital chose to intentionally increase friction in the name of safety. The idea behind Fort Knox? Most people have two types of money: spend-now and save-for-later. The latter deserves airtight protection.
(01:55) What Is Fort Knox?
Fort Knox is a new kind of savings account. One that emphasizes protection over liquidity. Developed over five years, it’s designed to prevent fraud before it starts. Erik shares that this isn’t a repackaged savings account; it’s the start of a new product category: High Security Savings.
(04:25) Why Austin Capital Bank Built Its Own Core
Unlike most banks that bolt security onto outdated cores, Erik’s team built a proprietary sidecar core from scratch. They’ve eliminated usernames and passwords, relying instead on biometrics and passkeys. At the structural level, fund movement is restricted with “closed-loop protection,” preventing unauthorized transfers even in worst-case scenarios.
(08:30) Product Design as a Security Weapon
Fort Knox uses account cloaking, closed-loop transfers, and custom account identifiers that don’t work with common payment systems. Even if someone got your account number, they couldn’t move money. Amber calls this a rare case of true innovation in product design and she’s not wrong.
(10:40) Getting Ahead of Quantum Threats
Austin Capital isn’t waiting for quantum computing to go mainstream. Fort Knox is built with post-quantum cryptography from day one. Erik cites research estimating a 1-in-7 chance that quantum attacks could break RSA encryption by 2026 and a 50/50 shot by 2031. So, they’re planning for the future now.
(12:29) A Bank That’s Basically a Software Company
With over 50 of 70 employees working in tech, Austin Capital functions more like a fintech with a banking license. The team opens 700–900 accounts online daily and scales without needing branches or commercial lenders. It’s a fully digital, highly engineered model built for volume and precision. It’s a fully digital, highly engineered model built for volume and precision, blurring the lines between a community bank and a tech company.
(13:58) Beyond Fort Knox: What’s Next
Austin Capital’s flagship product may be Fort Knox, but Erik teases additional solutions in the pipeline, like Fort Knox for Small Business and secure payments. The goal: find niche needs and build purpose-specific tools to meet them. This is about serving communities defined by problems, not ZIP codes.
(16:07) Why This Is Personal
This isn’t theoretical. From elder fraud to savings hijacking, Erik’s team has heard the horror stories. Fort Knox is designed for the people who’ve been burned before or who never want to be. Because when you control the technology and the charter, you can finally solve the problem at the root.
(18:00) Where to Find Fort Knox
To open a Fort Knox account, visit FortKnox.bank or download the app in the iOS or Android store. There’s no browser access, only app-based use, to ensure full-stack security.
Amber Buker is the Chief Research Officer for Travillian, a national executive search and advisory boutique. She consults with banks on technology partnerships, product development, and business development in Indian Country.
