First De Novo Bank Approved Under Trump Opens for Business Targeting Crypto and AI Startups

First De Novo Bank Approved Under Trump Opens for Business Targeting Crypto and AI Startups

Erebor, a newly chartered bank focused on serving cryptocurrency firms and artificial intelligence startups, officially opened for business on February 8th, becoming the first de novo bank approved during President Trump's second term in office.

The bank, whose name references J.R.R. Tolkien's fictional mountain fortress in "The Lord of the Rings," received its charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency after submitting its application in June 2025. The approval signals a potential shift in banking regulators' approach to serving higher-risk technology sectors that have struggled to maintain stable banking relationships since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in 2023.

Erebor has positioned itself to fill the void left by SVB's failure, targeting high-net worth individuals, businesses and startups in the AI, manufacturing, defense, and crypto industries. The bank also plans to serve payment service providers, investment funds, and trading firms—segments that have faced increasing difficulty securing traditional banking relationships as regulators scrutinized banks' exposure to crypto-related businesses.

The new institution has attracted backing from prominent figures with ties to the current administration, including Palmer Luckey, founder of defense contractor Anduril. The connections suggest Erebor may benefit from a more favorable regulatory environment for crypto banking under the Trump administration, which has taken a markedly different stance toward digital assets than its predecessor.

The bank's launch comes as the broader crypto banking landscape continues to consolidate. Last week, UnCash, a so-called "no KYC" crypto card service, abruptly shut down just one day after being highlighted in a compliance analysis by industry publication Fintech Business Weekly. The service blamed Mastercard for what it described as a "clean, corporate guillotine," noting that 90% of its cards operated on the Mastercard network.

"This isn't a minor inconvenience—it's a death sentence," UnCash stated in its shutdown announcement. "And frankly, we're done pretending we can fight Goliath with a slingshot made of good intentions." The company said it would refund users and allow them to withdraw funds to external crypto wallets.

The contrast between UnCash's collapse and Erebor's successful charter approval underscores the diverging paths available to crypto-focused financial services. While services operating in regulatory gray areas face increasing pressure from card networks and compliance requirements, properly chartered institutions with strong regulatory relationships appear positioned to capture market share from the sector's growth.

For finance leaders at technology companies, Erebor's emergence represents a potential new option for banking relationships that have become increasingly difficult to establish and maintain. The question now is whether the bank can deliver the stability and service that its target market has lacked since SVB's failure, or whether it will face the same pressures that have complicated crypto banking for established institutions.