Original | Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)

Author | Azuma (@azuma_eth)

On July 3, multiple mainstream financial media reported that a group of tech billionaires, including PayPal co-founder and Silicon Valley venture capital giant Peter Thiel, are jointly launching a new bank named Erebor, aimed at filling the gap in banking services for the cryptocurrency industry following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

The Financial Times reported that, in addition to Peter Thiel, the billionaires initiating Erebor include Palmer Luckey, co-founder of defense technology company Anduril, and Joe Lonsdale, founder of big data analytics company Palantir (of which Peter Thiel is also a co-founder). Thiel's venture capital fund, Founders Fund, will also directly invest in Erebor.

If many readers may find Palmer Luckey and Joe Lonsdale unfamiliar, let's put it this way: both, along with Peter Thiel, are significant donors to Trump in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

It is worth mentioning that the name Erebor is derived from the fantasy epic "The Hobbit," where it is a "lonely mountain" occupied by the dragon Smaug, hiding countless treasures of the dwarves beneath it. Additionally, the names Anduril and Palantir are also taken from this series, with the former meaning the famous sword "Flame of the West," and the latter meaning a "crystal ball" that can traverse time and space, perceiving all things in the world.

Erebor has applied for a national bank charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which will allow Erebor to conduct banking operations. According to the application documents made public this week, Erebor will "act as a national bank… providing traditional banking products and virtual currency-related services for businesses and individuals," targeting companies in the innovative economy sector in the U.S., particularly tech companies focused on cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence, defense, and manufacturing, while also serving the employees and investors of these companies, and planning to provide services to foreign companies seeking access to the U.S. banking system.

The Financial Times specifically emphasized that Erebor hopes to take on the original market positioning of Silicon Valley Bank, providing banking services for high-risk businesses and cryptocurrency practitioners who may be rejected by traditional banks.

In 2023, Silicon Valley Bank, which had a glorious 40-year history and had won Forbes' "Best Bank in America" award for five consecutive years, declared bankruptcy due to a liquidity crisis. Many cryptocurrency-related projects/institutions, including BlockFi, Circle, and Avalanche, were clients of Silicon Valley Bank at the time, leading to a severe blow to the cryptocurrency industry, with BTC briefly falling below $20,000 in panic.

Insiders revealed that the co-founders of Erebor began discussing the establishment of the bank after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in 2023. Although Silicon Valley's assets were acquired and restarted by First Citizens BancShares, and some professionals from the bank moved to HSBC USA, investors and executives of startup tech companies still generally complain about barriers to obtaining banking services — many businesses find it difficult to secure financing support at their previous levels.

Erebor stated in its application documents that stablecoin-related business will also be a top priority for the bank — "stablecoins" pegged to real assets like the U.S. dollar are expected to become a key focus of the bank's operations, with the document emphasizing its goal to become "the institution with the most comprehensive regulatory framework for stablecoin trading."

• Odaily Note: Banking services related to stablecoins and cryptocurrencies have become a new competitive focus, and Circle has recently submitted a bank license application. For details, see “$60 billion in assets self-custodied, 'first stock of stablecoins' Circle applies for federal trust bank license.”

Insiders indicated that Palmer Luckey and Joe Lonsdale will not participate in the daily management of Erebor. The bank's co-CEOs will be Jacob Hirshman, a former advisor to Circle, and Owen Rapaport, co-founder and CEO of digital asset software company Aer Compliance, while the former Senior Executive Vice President of Valley National Bank will serve as president.

Erebor's bank headquarters will be located in Columbus, Ohio, with an office in New York that will only provide digital services, with all products marketed through a smartphone app and website. Details regarding shareholder composition, equity structure, and business plans remain confidential.

With the smooth passage of the GENIUS Act in the Senate and the new SEC chairperson's commitment to establishing a reasonable regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency asset market, investment and operational activities related to cryptocurrencies are bound to continue to grow, and there remains a certain gap in related banking services. Including Erebor, several players have noticed this opportunity.

In the foreseeable future, more intense competition is expected to emerge around this service, but for the cryptocurrency industry itself, which is troubled by conservative banking services, such competition may be increasingly beneficial.

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