Three years after the bank run and collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Peter Thiel’s own Mithril Bank officially opens.

BlockBeats News, February 9, Erebor Bank, a financial institution focused on the cryptocurrency sector, has become the first nationwide bank to receive a banking charter during the second term of the Trump administration and officially opened today.

Erebor Bank is a bank chartered by the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), specifically designed for the innovation economy. Its three main areas of focus are artificial intelligence, defense technology, and digital assets. The name "Erebor" (the Lonely Mountain) is taken from the image of the Dwarven Kingdom in The Lord of the Rings, symbolizing the long-term construction of crypto financial infrastructure.

Erebor is an infrastructure bank serving enterprises (rather than individual consumers). They plan to provide GPU equipment financing for AI data centers, contract-backed loans for defense technology startups, and operate a truly usable stablecoin business. Erebor will internally integrate a fiat and stablecoin exchange system to achieve true 24/7 operations.

The bank also aims to fill the gap left by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in 2023. Silicon Valley Bank was once an important financing channel for early-stage tech companies and venture capital institutions, clients who are often avoided by traditional banks due to higher risks.

It is worth noting that Peter Thiel is a major investor/supporter of Erebor Bank. Founders Fund, under Peter Thiel, has invested in Erebor Bank and is one of Erebor Bank's early and significant backers. Erebor's founders, Palmer Luckey and Joe Lonsdale (co-founder of Palantir and founder of 8VC fund), are both long-term partners/allies of Thiel (Palantir itself is a major project of Thiel).

About three years ago, during the Silicon Valley Bank crisis, Peter Thiel played a role in fueling the situation. His Founders Fund advised its portfolio companies to withdraw funds from Silicon Valley Bank on the eve of its collapse, and the fund itself also quickly withdrew all its capital. This advice was reported by multiple media outlets and rapidly 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 run and failure in history.