Like Anduril and Palantir, Erebor Bank is named after a term coined by J.R.R. Erin Gleason, chief communications officer of Founders Fund, told WIRED that Thiel was “not involved” in the deal and that Founders Fund invested $1 million into Erebor. Luckey, 8VC, Erebor’s organizers, and their attorney, Adam Cohen, did not respond to requests for comment. Erebor’s intended client base is similar to that of Silicon Valley Bank, which served as the go-to business-banking partner for the San Francisco Bay Area tech industry and its affiliates. (SVB famously collapsed in March 2023 after economic volatility and risky liquidity practices led to a run on the bank.