Clients pulled $8.1bn in deposits from Silvergate during a “crisis of confidence” late last year, forcing the crypto-focused US bank to sell assets and underscoring how the implosion of FTX reached the regulated financial sector.
The California-based group’s disclosure on Thursday showing its deposits from digital asset customers shrank to $3.8bn on December 31 from $11.9bn at the end of September sent its shares plummeting almost 43 per cent in New York trading.
Silvergate, which is a Federal Reserve member bank and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, has come under heavy pressure over the past year as crypto asset prices have tumbled and several big players have collapsed into bankruptcy. The bank’s share price had tumbled 88 per cent in 2022.