Peter Thiel's invested crypto bank, Erebor, has received an OCC license and is now officially operational.

Erebor Bank, a cryptocurrency-focused financial institution, officially opened today as the first nationally chartered financial institution to receive a national banking license during the second term of the Trump administration. Chartered by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Erebor Bank is specifically designed for the innovative economy, with artificial intelligence, defense technology, and digital assets as its three main focus areas. Erebor is an infrastructure bank targeting businesses (not individual consumers). They plan to provide financing for GPU equipment in AI data centers, contract-backed loans for defense technology startups, and operate a truly usable stablecoin business. Erebor will internally integrate a fiat-to-stablecoin exchange system, operating 24/7. The bank also aims to fill the void left by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in 2023, a crucial financing channel for early-stage tech companies and venture capital firms often avoided by traditional banks due to their perceived high risk. It's worth noting that Peter Thiel is a major investor/supporter of Erebor Bank. His Founders Fund invested in Erebor Bank and was one of its early and important backers. Erebor's founders, Palmer Luckey and Joe Lonsdale (co-founder of Palantir and founder of 8VC), are both long-term partners/allies of Thiel (Palantir itself is an important project of Thiel's).