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Feb 6 (Reuters) – Crypto-focused Erebor Bank became the first bank to receive a national bank charter during \u200bthe second term of the Trump administration, the \u200cWall Street Journal reported on Friday.<\/p>\n
The approval allows the Palmer Luckey-backed entity \u200cto operate as a bank nationwide, and occurred less than eight months after it applied for a charter with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.<\/p>\n
The OCC did not \u2060immediately respond to a \u200cReuters request for comment.<\/p>\n
Launched by Anduril co-founder Luckey, Erebor received conditional approval from U.S. banking \u200dregulators in October.<\/p>\n
Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale is an investor in the bank, while Peter Thiel has also been widely reported to back \u200bthe initiative.<\/p>\n
Erebor plans to serve technology businesses in artificial \u200cintelligence, crypto, defense and manufacturing, as well as individuals who work at or invest in them, according to its charter application.<\/p>\n
It is also aiming to fill the void left by Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse in 2023, which was a \u2060key banking channel for early-stage technology \u200bfirms and venture capitalists deemed \u200btoo risky by traditional banks.<\/p>\n
Many startups struggled to access capital and meet immediate obligations, such as payrolls \u200dafter the \u2060bank collapsed.<\/p>\n
Like Anduril and Palantir, Erebor takes its name from J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” series. In \u2060the books, Erebor is the “Lonely Mountain”, a fortress whose treasures are reclaimed \u200cfrom the dragon Smaug.<\/p>\n
(Reporting by Ateev Bhandari in \u200cBengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n