Loh Kean Yew‘s 2025 Denmark Open challenge is over before it even really began after a first-round three-set defeat to Weng Hongyang 17–21 21–11 17–21.
The 2021 badminton world champion from Singapore, who has reached eight BWF World Tour…
Loh Kean Yew‘s 2025 Denmark Open challenge is over before it even really began after a first-round three-set defeat to Weng Hongyang 17–21 21–11 17–21.
The 2021 badminton world champion from Singapore, who has reached eight BWF World Tour…
A serial winner in sportscars, a Formula 1 driver and an all-out racer: Allan McNish is using his experience to give Audi a fast start in F1.
As a Le Mans and World Endurance Championship-winner with the manufacturer, McNish knows how ‘the Audi…
NEW YORK — Fanatics Collectibles, the National Basketball Association (NBA), and National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) today announced Topps’ return as the NBA and NBPA’s official exclusive trading card licensee. Topps, a…
This request seems a bit unusual, so we need to confirm that you’re human. Please press and hold the button until it turns completely green. Thank you for your cooperation!
Dementia is a degenerative disease that affects mental, motor, and verbal aspects of humans.1 The prevalence of dementia has rapidly increased. By 2020, more than 50 million people were diagnosed with dementia worldwide. This number…
Readers of a certain age will remember the sheer nuclear impact of Michael Mann’s Heat on its release in 1995. Not only was it formally ambitious and wildly influential, but it also represented the first time that Al Pacino and Robert De Niro…
On Sunday evening, a few days ahead of Frieze London, one of the world’s most influential contemporary art fairs, Condé Nast Traveller’s Global Editorial Director, Divia Thani, hosted an intimate cocktail gathering at Annabel’s in Mayfair…
Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free
Your guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the world
US regulators have approved the launch of a bank backed by a group of high-profile tech billionaires with ties to Donald Trump’s administration, seeking to fill a gap left by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.
The bank, Erebor, was founded this year by Palmer Luckey, co-founder of military contractor Anduril, and Joe Lonsdale, head of venture capital firm 8VC and a co-founder of data analytics firm Palantir. Its early backers also include Peter Thiel’s venture firm Founders Fund and Haun Ventures, a crypto-focused investor.
Like Anduril and Palantir, Erebor’s name is a reference to JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Erebor is the “lonely mountain” whose treasures are reclaimed from the dragon Smaug.
According to its banking charter application, Erebor’s target market will be businesses that are part of the US “innovation economy” — particularly tech companies focused on cryptocurrencies, artificial intelligence, defence and manufacturing. It will also serve individuals who work for, or invest in, these companies.
“We want to be a stable, low-risk, reliable bank doing normal banking things without screwing everyone over with undue risk,” said a person close to Erebor.
Erebor was granted “preliminary and conditional” approval by regulators on Wednesday, just four months after its application for a national bank charter in June — a sign of the Trump administration’s initiative to lower regulatory hurdles and encourage new banking entrants focused on digital assets and services. The administration has encouraged new entrants to the banking sector including from technology groups, prompting a number of fintechs and cryptocurrency companies to seek bank charters this year.
The bank must still meet a number of requirements including checks on its compliance and security systems before it can officially open, which is expected to take several more months.
Luckey and Lonsdale were big donors to Trump in the 2024 presidential election, while Thiel was a backer of vice-president JD Vance. A person close to Erebor said there had been “no special treatment” from the Trump administration in the approvals process, adding that Luckey “had not been asked, nor made a single call in this capacity” to his contacts in the government.
Erebor is backed by $275mn of capital, the bulk of which is regulatory capital held in an account and will not be used for its operations. So far, all of its operations have been funded by Luckey, according to a person close to the matter. Its founders plan to raise more funding in the future to accelerate its expansion.
Its head office will be in Columbus, Ohio, with an additional office in New York, but it will offer digital-only customer service, marketing all of its products and services via a smartphone app and website.
Erebor’s co-founders decided to launch a bank after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in 2023. SVB had been the main bank for US tech start-ups and their venture capital backers.
Luckey’s start-up Anduril, which makes drones, sensors and other military technology, banked primarily with SVB prior to its collapse, according to a person close to the start-up.
Cryptocurrencies known as stablecoins, which are pegged to real-life assets such as the dollar, are expected to be a significant part of the bank’s operations. The Trump administration has also reversed a number of rules from the Biden administration limiting banks from stablecoin transactions.
Erebor “getting approval so fast is a reflection of its extremely conservative business plan”, the person close to the launch said. The person added that Erebor was not going to be a “wacky, techno crypto bank”.
It will be run by co-CEOs Jacob Hirshman, who previously worked as an adviser at crypto group Circle, and Owen Rapaport, co-founder and CEO of digital assets software company Aer Compliance. Mike Hagedorn, former senior executive vice-president at New Jersey-based Valley National Bank, will be the bank’s president. Luckey and Lonsdale are not expected to be involved in the day-to-day running of the bank.
7 views
0 likes
This page supports project managers working in both industry and academia, as well as ESA Technical Officers of Discovery funded activities under the contractual frame of…