Peter Thiel’s crypto Bank got the green light from the Washington regulator after a few months.
Marking a major tectonic shift in regulation policy, Peter Thiel’s financial institution, Erebor Bank, which is also into crypto, was approved by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) after about 4 months of review.
Erebor, which was backed by technology prominents Peter Thiel, Palmer Luckey, and Joe Lonsdale, received approval on Wednesday, while reaching a significant milestone. The approval on Wednesday marked the financial institution as the first de novo bank to get authorised under Comptroller Jonathan Gould.
The approval came after nearly 4 months of review, after Erebor filed an application on the 11th of June.
“I am committed to a dynamic and diverse federal banking system, and our decision today is a first but important step in living up to that commitment,” Gould said.
According to a post on blogging platform Medium, Erebor Bank’s business plan is as follows
“The Bank will be a national bank and will operate as a banking organization providing traditional banking products, as well as virtual currency-related products and services, for businesses and individuals. The target market for the Bank comprises businesses that are part of the United States innovation economy, in particular technology companies focused on virtual currencies, artificial intelligence,..”
As far as the Bank’s service is concerned, it proposed to serve selected individual consumers in the high and ultra-high net worth category who work for, or invest in, some selected companies.
Meanwhile, Gould has been quite practical in the way he approaches. In a recent X post, the Comptroller stated that they were reducing regulatory burden and restoring a risk-based exam approach to community banks. He followed this path as examiners can focus on the most important financial risks, rather than fixed checklists, which means “banks spend less time on unnecessary paperwork and more time helping Americans.”
