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Silvergate Bet Everything on Crypto, Then Watched It Evaporate

 2 years ago
source link: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/silvergate-bet-everything-crypto-then-042922549.html
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Silvergate Bet Everything on Crypto, Then Watched It Evaporate

Max Reyes
Thu, March 9, 2023, 1:29 PM GMT+9·5 min read
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Silvergate Bet Everything on Crypto, Then Watched It Evaporate

(Bloomberg) -- Silvergate Capital Corp. spent its final days under siege.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Bombarded by shortsellers, deserted by depositors and shunned by business partners, executives at the crypto-focused bank were face-to-face with US regulators at its La Jolla, California headquarters.

Officials from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. had arrived at the firm’s offices, intent on averting the US banking system’s first casualty from the crypto implosion. Among options they discussed were finding crypto-investors to help shore up liquidity amid the bank’s mounting losses. But a desperate round of calls to potential investors failed, with no firm willing to shoulder the burden of associating with a bank mired so deeply in the industry’s upheaval.

With survival looking increasingly implausible and no buyer in sight, Silvergate said Wednesday it was closing its doors, ending a decade-long crypto dream that made it a central player while the industry boomed.

The decision to wind down and voluntarily liquidate, described by people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity, capped months of turmoil at the bank stemming from its ties to Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX. The crypto exchange’s November collapse into bankruptcy, followed by allegations of fraud, placed a harsh spotlight on Silvergate and simultaneously ignited a regulatory crackdown on the industry’s ties to banking.

And as Silvergate buckled under the strain, posting $1 billion of losses in the fourth quarter and bleeding more capital this year, it was forced to delay its annual report and raised questions about whether it could stay in business. After hitching its wagon so firmly to the new world of crypto, the bank had exposed itself to an old-world banking risk: When the industry’s prospects soured, Silvergate had little other business to lean on.

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