In July 2025, a consortium of tech billionaires, including Palmer Luckey, Peter Thiel, and Joe Lonsdale, launched Erebor, a new U.S. digital bank located in Columbus, Ohio. (Source: Reuters, July 2, 2025) Erebor aims to serve startups in sectors such as artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, defense, and manufacturing.
The bank has applied for a national charter and plans to operate digitally, incorporating stablecoins into its operations. This initiative hopes to become a highly regulated institution handling stablecoin transactions. The launch addresses the gap left by the 2023 collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB).
Strategy, formerly known as MicroStrategy, reported $13 billion in unrealized gains from its digital asset holdings in the second quarter of 2025. (Source: Reuters, July 2, 2025) The company continues to acquire Bitcoin, with a recent purchase of $531 million worth of BTC.
Additionally, Robinhood is expanding its push into digital assets by launching a dedicated layer-2 blockchain on Arbitrum for trading tokenized stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). This initiative aims to provide investors in the European Union access to more than 200 U.S. stock and ETF tokens.