Erebor, a new bank from Palmer Luckey and Joe Lonsdale, achieved the fastest approval in 25 years by flipping the traditional growth model. Instead of aggressive lending, they plan to lend only 50% of deposits (vs. the typical 90%), signaling to regulators that stability, not risk, is their priority.

Palmer Luckey argues that relying on another bank's charter forces you to appease their risk tolerance and political pressures. Owning the charter means "the buck stops with you," ensuring you control your own de-banking and censorship decisions rather than having them dictated by upstream partners.

Palmer Luckey's bank, Erebor, takes the unusual position of complying only with U.S. law, explicitly stating it "will not comply with spurious rulings from people who have no real jurisdiction." This contrasts with global banks beholden to multiple markets and is a key differentiator for companies aligned with U.S. interests.

A key operational use of AI at Affirm is for regulatory compliance. The company deploys models to automatically scan thousands of merchant websites and ads, flagging incorrect or misleading claims about its financing products for which Affirm itself is legally responsible.

Contrary to being another SVB, Palmer Luckey's new bank Erebor is designed as its opposite. It targets tech and defense customers with a hyper-conservative model focused on high deposit-to-loan ratios, prioritizing capital safety over yield for its startup clients.

Viewing fraud as its own form of infrastructure, with its own "APIs of evil," provides transferable lessons. By understanding how fraudulent systems are built and operate, we can gain insights to better architect and secure the legitimate, critical infrastructure in our lives.

Tarek Mansour views Kalshi's strict, federally regulated approach as a strategic advantage. It forces robust system pressure-testing and makes the platform an unattractive venue for fraud or insider trading, which naturally flows to unregulated, offshore alternatives.

While fast-moving, unregulated competitors like FTX garner hype, a deliberate, compliance-first approach builds a more resilient and defensible business in sectors like finance. This unsexy path is the key to building a lasting, mainstream company with a strong regulatory moat.

Digital trust with partners requires embedding privacy considerations into their entire lifecycle, from onboarding to system access. This proactive approach builds confidence and prevents data breaches within the extended enterprise, rather than treating privacy as a reactive compliance task.