(7 May 2025 – United States) Newly launched Erebor Bank has amassed US$1.1 billion in deposits within its first two months of operations.
The Ohio-headquartered digital bank reported US$970 million in interest-bearing deposits and US$126 million in non-interest-bearing deposits as of 31 March after first accepting deposits from the second week of February.
Erebor officially opened on Sunday 8 February as an acknowledgement of its focus on integrating distributed ledger technology (DLT) to settle transactions any time, including outside traditional business hours.
The digital bank began its operations less than a year after submitting its initial charter application in June 2025. Luckey’s Anduril, a defence tech startup, and Thiel’s and Lonsdale’s Palantir, Erebor’s name is derived from the Tolkien Lord of the Rings series.
Founded by prominent tech figure Peter Thiel and Trump donors Palmer Luckey and Joe Lonsdale to service tech startup enterprises with a similar business plan to the failed Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Erebor received a de novo charter after gaining approval in October and receiving FDIC insurance in December.
The speed at which Erebor Bank hit the US$1 billion deposit mark rapidly outpaced similar US digital challenger banks that often take years seeking to surpass the key balance sheet milestone. The only similar neobank performance is Robinhood, which surpassed US$1 billion in deposits within four months of its November 2025 banking product launch.
“We are unsurprised at Erebor’s strong start in deposit acquisition. Erebor is a unique banking startup, with deep connections to sources of funding from the personal, political and business networks of its founders. It is no surprise that they have come out of the gates fast with early success raising deposits” commented Columbia University Richman Centre Senior Fellow and Broadmoor Consulting Managing Principal, Todd Baker for American Banker.
Source: American Banker, Melinda Huspen