Astra
Astra Technical Briefing
Published September 28, 2021
Overview
Gil Akos, co-founder and CEO of Astra, demos the Astra automation platform for money movement. Astra\'s thesis: ACH and AFP are fragile and archaic, but below the surface lies an iceberg of origination risk, returns, and entitlements that blocks fintechs from shipping money movement quickly. Astra wraps this complexity in a four-step integration: create a UserIntent, walk the user through a single OAuth 2.0 authorization screen (terms, SMS code, optional account linking, redirect), link bank accounts (managed Plaid, bring-your-own processor tokens, or manual account+routing), and create Routines — rule-driven automations like "when destination balance drops below $100, move $500 in." Routines run in the background, firing transfers automatically. The closing architecture segment contrasts origination (fintech → sponsor bank → one-way ACH debit) with Astra\'s orchestration model (fintech → Astra → debit source + credit sponsor bank) for higher settlement fidelity and faster speed, with the goal of enabling fintechs to eliminate origination risk and capture more recurring inbound deposits (typically ~$1,200 per user per month).
0:00 Introduction to Astra — automation for money movement
Gil Akos, co-founder and CEO of Astra, frames Astra as an automation platform for money movement — when a user adds an account to their financial graph, there should be a layer that programmatically moves funds between accounts based on rules.
1:30 ACH and AFP are fragile — an iceberg problem
Existing rails (ACH, AFP) are "fragile and archaic." On the surface you need a UI and KYC; below the waterline lies the real work (origination risk, returns, entitlements) that blocks most fintechs from shipping money-movement features quickly.
2:30 Astra's ideal platform — fast, rule-driven, compliant
Astra's design principles: settlement fidelity across multiple speeds (not just next-day), automation by rule (balance below threshold → move $500), managed compliance so the integrator takes on less risk, and day-counted (not month-counted) go-live.
3:30 Astra developer dashboard and Postman
From the Astra developer dashboard, Gil creates a client, sets a redirect URI, and pulls up Astra's Postman collection with pre-built environment variables — then walks through the four-step integration to live money movement.
4:30 Step 1 — create a UserIntent
POST /user_intents pre-registers an end user in Astra's system. Astra returns an ID, and a subsequent GET /user_intents/{id} returns the record Gil will use in the authorization flow.
5:00 Step 2 — OAuth 2.0 user authorization
The single UI screen Astra requires: the end user accepts terms, confirms an SMS code, optionally links bank accounts, and is redirected back with an authorization code. The developer exchanges the code for an access token that scopes all subsequent calls.
6:00 Step 3 — link accounts (managed Plaid, processor tokens, manual)
Astra supports three account-linking paths: a managed Plaid instance (optionally white-labeled), a bring-your-own Plaid integration with processor tokens, and manual routing+account entry for accounts the developer already owns.
8:30 Step 4 — create routines
Routines are the "sexy part": pre-built rule templates like "when destination balance < $100, move $500 in" that run in the background, firing transfers automatically without the end user intervening each time.
9:30 Origination vs. orchestration payment architecture
Gil contrasts origination (fintech → sponsor bank → ACH debit, one-way pull) with Astra's orchestration model: fintech → Astra → ACH debit from source bank, then ACH credit into the sponsor bank — higher settlement fidelity and faster transfer speed.
Presented by Gil Akos and Sam Morgan — Astra
Topics: Payments, Developer Tools
