Erebor, a new tech-focused bank to serve crypto and AI customers, has received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to begin operations, according to a press release. The list of backers is a real who’s who of people who support President Donald Trump.
Erebor is based in Ohio and was founded by Palmer Luckey, the co-founder of military contractor Anduril and the VR headset company Oculus. Luckey, who’s worth $3.6 billion according to Forbes, first thought of starting the bank after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in 2023, according to reporting from July by the Financial Times.
The name Erebor comes from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings series, referring to a “Lonely Mountain.” So it makes sense that his co-founder is Joe Lonsdale, who also co-founded Palantir, yet another Tolkien reference. Peter Thiel, still another Palantir co-founder, is also backing the new bank, according to the Financial Times.
The “preliminary and conditional” approval to begin operations happened in just four months, an unusually short period of time. But compliance and security checks are expected to take another few months before it can officially open. Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan V. Gould announced the approval in a statement Wednesday.
“Erebor is the first de novo bank to receive a preliminary conditional approval since I arrived at the OCC,
said Gould. “I am committed to a dynamic and diverse federal banking system, and our decision today is a first but important step in living up to that commitment.”
“Today’s decision is also proof that the OCC under my leadership does not impose blanket barriers to banks that want to engage in digital asset activities,” Gould continued. “Permissible digital asset activities, like any other legally permissible banking activity, have a place in the federal banking system if conducted in a safe and sound manner. The OCC will continue to provide a path for innovative approaches to financial services to ensure a strong, diverse financial system that remains relevant over time.”
An anonymous source “close to Erebor” told the Financial Times that Luckey’s new bank didn’t receive any special treatment, even though everyone assumes that’s untrue in the transactional world of Trump. Business Insider reported in August that Erebor sent out a fundraising memo that explained it was anticipating approval in “less than 6 months” and bragged that “Palmer’s political network will get this done.”
Luckey has donated heavily to Republican candidates, contributing over $400,000 to President Trump alone in 2020. It’s unclear how much Luckey may have donated to Trump in 2024, though it was his political donations that caused controversy during Trump’s first term. Oculus VR was acquired by Facebook in 2014, and Luckey stayed on after the purchase. But he was reportedly forced out of Facebook in early 2017 after donating $10,000 to a pro-Trump group in 2016.
Obviously, giving money to Trump is no longer controversial in Silicon Valley. In fact, guys like Mark Zuckerberg all do it quite openly now. Quite a lot can change in a decade.
