**[Three Years After Silicon Valley Bank's Collapse Due to a Bank Run, Peter Thiel's Erebor Bank Officially Opens]** BlockBeats News, February 9: Erebor Bank, focused on the cryptocurrency sector, has become the first financial institution to receive a national banking charter during the second term of the Trump administration and officially opened today. Erebor Bank is a bank chartered by the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) specifically designed for the innovation economy, with artificial intelligence, defense technology, and digital assets as its three key focus areas. The name "Erebor" is derived from the imagery of the Dwarven Kingdom in *The Lord of the Rings*, symbolizing the long-term construction of crypto financial infrastructure. Erebor is an infrastructure bank catering to businesses (rather than individual consumers). It plans to provide GPU equipment financing for AI data centers, contract-backed loans for defense technology startups, and operate a truly functional stablecoin business. Erebor will internally integrate fiat currency and stablecoin exchange systems to achieve true 24/7 operations. The bank also aims to fill the void left by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in 2023. Silicon Valley Bank had been a critical financing channel for early-stage tech companies and venture capital firms, which were often avoided by traditional banks due to their higher risk profiles. Notably, Peter Thiel is a major investor/supporter of Erebor Bank. Thiel's Founders Fund has invested in Erebor Bank and is one of its early and significant backers. Erebor's founders, Palmer Luckey and Joe Lonsdale (co-founder of Palantir and founder of 8VC), are long-time collaborators/allies of Thiel (Palantir itself is one of Thiel's key projects). Approximately three years ago, Peter Thiel played a role in the downfall of Silicon Valley Bank during its crisis. Founders Fund advised its portfolio companies to withdraw funds from Silicon Valley Bank shortly before its collapse, and the fund itself swiftly pulled out all its money. This advice was widely reported by multiple media outlets and quickly spread among Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and the VC community, accelerating the panic. Silicon Valley Bank collapsed one day after Founders Fund incited withdrawals, becoming the fastest bank to fail due to a bank run in history.