The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has granted conditional national bank status to Erebor Bank, a new technology-focused bank that seeks to fill the void left by the failure of several such lenders in 2023, including Silicon Valley Bank.
OCC head Jonathan Gould said Wednesday’s approval — the first charter for a new bank since his tenure at the regulator — offers “evidence that the OCC under my leadership is not imposing blanket barriers to banks seeking to engage in digital asset activities.”
“Permitted digital asset activities, like any other legally permitted banking activity, have a place in the federal banking system if they are conducted in a safe and sound manner,” Gould said in a statement.
The company, drawing on the tech world’s love of names associated with JRR Tolkien’s fiction, described itself in its charter application as a national bank that “will operate as a banking organization providing traditional banking products, as well as virtual currency-related products and services.”
The banking regulator’s “preliminary conditional approval” depends on the new institution meeting ongoing requirements during a sort of probationary period. The agency’s approval letter states that Erebor “will target its products and services to technology companies and high-net-worth individuals who use virtual currencies.”
This year, as regulators appointed by crypto-boosting President Donald Trump have reversed previous government resistance to crypto-related businesses, U.S. banking agencies, which also include the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., have sought to issue more industry-friendly policy guidance.
In 2021, Anchorage Digital led the movement of crypto-focused banks to the OCC charter, and it stood alone in this category for years, but a number of digital asset companies have recently decided to apply for federal banking charters in the United States. The OCC is the only regulator to grant such charters at the national level.
