Erebor Wins First Trump-Era National Bank Charter; Thiel & Luckey Secure Federal Rails

The New ‘Golden Ticket’ for Crypto and Defense

The regulatory freeze has cracked. Erebor Bank, a digital-first lender backed by Peter Thiel and Anduril founder Palmer Luckey, has become the first institution to secure a new US national bank charter during Donald Trump’s second term. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) finalized the approval this week, granting Erebor the federal license needed to operate nationwide without the patchwork of state money transmitter licenses that hampers most crypto firms.

This is not just a regulatory win; it is a political signal. After years of “Choke Point 2.0” tactics that severed banking rails for crypto and defense startups, the OCC under the new administration has greenlit a bank explicitly designed to serve them. Erebor launches with $635 million in capital and a valuation of $4.35 billion, positioning itself to fill the void left by Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) for high-risk, high-growth sectors.

The “PayPal Mafia” Returns to Banking

Erebor’s cap table reads like a roll call for the defense-tech and contrarian VC establishment. Alongside Luckey and Thiel’s Founders Fund, the bank is backed by Joe Lonsdale (Palantir co-founder). The bank’s mandate is specific: provide treasury, custody, and lending services to companies in AI, crypto, defense, and advanced manufacturing, industries often flagged as “high risk” by traditional compliance departments.

“Erebor is the first de novo bank to receive a preliminary conditional approval since I arrived at the OCC. I am committed to a dynamic and diverse federal banking system.”, Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould (Oct 2025 Statement)

By securing a full national charter, Erebor bypasses the need for intermediary partner banks. It can hold deposits directly at the Federal Reserve, a privilege denied to stablecoin issuers like Tether or Circle, who must rely on third-party institutions. This direct access significantly reduces counterparty risk for its clients, a lesson learned painfully during the 2023 banking crisis.

Institutional Context: The Defense-Crypto Nexus

The approval cements a growing trend in Washington: the alignment of “hard tech” (defense/AI) with financial sovereignty (crypto). The Trump administration’s “Crypto Capital” directive is moving from rhetoric to infrastructure. With Erebor, the administration effectively sanctions a banking rail that prioritizes national strategic assets, drones, AI models, and dollar-backed stablecoins, over traditional ESG-focused compliance frameworks.

For the broader market, this is a liquidity signal. While Erebor is private, its existence de-risks the operational environment for publicly traded defense stocks like Palantir (PLTR) and US-domiciled stablecoin issuers. If the bank executes its roadmap, it could become the primary dollar clearinghouse for the on-chain economy, centralizing liquidity that currently sits offshore.