The United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency conditionally granted Erebor Bank national bank status. Erebor Bank is an emerging tech-oriented bank that aims to fill the void created by the failure of several financial institutions in 2023, including Silicon Valley Bank.
OCC Commissioner Jonathan Gould said Wednesday’s approval – the first new bank authorization during his tenure with the regulator – is “evidence that the OCC, under my leadership, is not imposing blanket barriers to banks that want to engage in digital asset activities.”
“Permitted digital asset activities, like other legally permitted banking activities, have a place in the federal banking system when conducted in a safe and sound manner,” Gould said in a statement.
The company is leaning into the tech industry’s love affair with names associated with J.R.R. Tolkien’s fiction, describing itself in its incorporation application as a national bank that “operates as a banking organization offering crypto-related products and services in addition to traditional banking products.”
The banking supervisor’s “preliminary conditional approval” depends on the new financial institution meeting ongoing requirements during a type of trial period. The agency’s approval letter states that Erebor will “target its products and services to technology companies and ultra-high-net-worth individuals who use cryptocurrencies.”
U.S. banking institutions, including the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, have sought to issue more friendly policy guidance for the industry this year, as regulators appointed by pro-crypto President Donald Trump reversed previous government resistance to crypto-related businesses.
In 2021, Anchorage Digital pioneered the OCC charter movement for crypto-oriented banks, and after years of being isolated in that category, a number of digital asset companies have recently moved to seek federal banking charter in the US. The OCC is the only regulatory authority to grant such approvals at the national level.
