Silvergate turns to US congress agency for help
Silvergate Capital is reportedly holding talks with the US Federal Deposit Insurance Commission (FDIC) to get ideas on remaining afloat as its financial woes worsen.
Silvergate Capital, one of the numerous victims of the disgraced Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange collapse, recently received officials of the FDIC at its California office to deliberate on ways the lender could overcome its deepening financial crisis and avoid going bankrupt.
Per sources close to the matter, the examiners, who the Federal Reserve authorized to carry out the exercise, have hinted that one of the viable paths the firm could follow to solve its financial problems is to get prominent crypto market participants to invest in Silvergate.
If that fails, sources say the FDIC could takeover Silvergate through a receivership arrangement and possibly merge it with a more viable lender. However, no decision has been made so far.
The sudden collapse of FTX and its sister company Alameda last year is one of the major causes of Silvergate’s financial woes, as the latter had close ties with both companies. The demise of FTX triggered a bank run on Silvergate amid a barrage of lawsuits, with the bank resorting to employee layoffs and selling off its assets at a loss to salvage the situation.
In January, the embattled lender reported a $949 million loss in its Q4 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), with the company announcing the suspension of its Series A stock dividend payouts to investors as part of efforts to preserve capital.
The ongoing investigations into the operations of Silvergate Capital by US authorities have further worsened the bank’s crisis. Silvergate Capital’s stock price is down by a whopping 69.83% YTD, exchanging hands for $5.13 at the time of writing.
So far, many crypto market participants that previously did business with Silvergate, including Coinbase and Circle, have ditched the lender. It remains to be seen whether the company will overcome its unending challenges.
