In March 2023, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapsed, breaking the long-standing tacit understanding between high-growth technology companies and the financial system in the United States. The bank, which once served more than half of Silicon Valley's startups, was emptied in just 48 hours, triggering market panic, regulatory takeover, and systematic reflection on the entire venture capital ecosystem; one of the triggers of the incident was that Founders Fund, founded by Peter Thiel, was the first to withdraw all funds from SVB after the risk disclosure.
Two years later, Thiel appeared in the center of the storm again. This time, he co-founded the digital bank Erebor with Anduril founder Palmer Luckey and 8VC's Joe Lonsdale, trying to fill the gap left by high-risk technology companies in financing after the collapse of SVB.
It is reported that Erebor is applying for a national banking license from US regulators. It is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, and has established an office in New York.
Unlike traditional commercial banks, Erebor adopts a fully digital operation model and incorporates stablecoin asset allocation into the core of its business, clearly targeting the early technology, AI, encryption and manufacturing customer groups served by SVB.
The project received endorsement support from Founders Fund and 8VC at the beginning of its launch. It is currently conducting a round A financing with a valuation of approximately US$2 billion and plans to raise US$225 million.
Erebor's public documents stated that its goal is to become the "most regulated stablecoin trading institution" and try to achieve a new balance between regulation and asset liquidity.
Palmer Luckey and Peter Thiel have collaborated again this time, continuing their past industrial paths. Anduril, founded by the former, integrates AI into unmanned systems and border defense, while Palantir, founded by the latter, has long served the US intelligence and defense system.
The two have joined forces to start from "basic financial facilities" and intend to solve the problem of interrupted financing chains for high-risk enterprises from the root.This move is not only a response to the collapse of SVB, but also a re-investment in the defense technology industry at the level of the financial system.
"Erebor" is taken from the name of the Lonely Mountain in "The Lord of the Rings", symbolizing wealth reserves and defense systems, continuing Peter Thiel's consistent naming preferences. His series of companies such as Palantir, Anduril, Valar and Mithril all come from the Middle-earth universe, reflecting his long-term belief in myths and order metaphors.
It is reported that the Erebor project was proposed by Luckey at the end of 2024, and the team was officially established in early 2025 and the financing and license application were initiated. The project is currently co-CEOed by Jacob Hirshman and Owen Rapaport. The former served as a stablecoin strategy consultant at Circle, and the latter is the co-founder of the compliance technology company Aer Compliance. Mike Hagedorn, a former executive of Valley National Bank, is the chairman of the board of directors and is responsible for the establishment of the regulatory and operational framework.
Although Thiel, Luckey and Lonsdale are all initiators and major shareholders, the three do not participate in daily operations, but provide strategic direction as directors.
Founders Fund and 8VC have started resource coordination in the past few weeks to recommend Erebor as a new generation of banking service platform to its AI and defense technology portfolio companies, and the first batch of customers are already in the access process.
Compared with traditional banks, Erebor has made significant adjustments in its asset structure. Its internal testing model adopts a 1:1 deposit reserve system and controls the loan/deposit ratio at around 50%, trying to avoid SVB-style asset duration mismatch and concentration risk.
Stablecoins are defined as "core tools for hedging and settlement" in their structure, and a variety of digital assets are also included in the reserve asset framework to ensure liquidity and cross-border settlement capabilities.
This strategy is both a structural response to the causes of SVB's collapse and an attempt to establish a hybrid banking model that conforms to Web3 logic and the Federal Reserve's regulatory framework.
However, market doubts are not absent. Many crypto researchers pointed out that if stablecoins become the main assets and liabilities, their ability to resist systemic risks remains to be tested, especially in the absence of federal guarantees and off-chain clearing mechanisms. Some people call it the "regulatory version of Terra", while others warn that it may replicate SVB's trust-breaking path.
The project's landing in Columbus, Ohio, has also attracted the attention of local governments. The local development committee believes that the arrival of the bank will attract more manufacturing, AI and defense startups to move to the Midwest, which echoes Thiel's consistent advocacy of "Silicon Valley's financial and industrial focus should be shifted to the hinterland".
Thiel publicly criticized the Bay Area's financial structure in 2022, believing that it can no longer match the capital allocation needs of emerging technologies; as of now, Erebor has not announced its official business date. The company said it will quickly launch pilot services after regulatory approval, including corporate accounts, stablecoin custody, credit approval and other functional modules.
If the bank license is approved, Erebor will become the first federal-level digital bank in the United States in recent years with "stablecoin + technology startup" as its core positioning. Whether this new species can truly fill the structural gap left by SVB will also be revealed in subsequent regulatory reviews and market verification.
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