Over the past week, the collapse of three of the biggest banks supporting the crypto scene – Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Silvergate Bank and Signature Bank – has many industry insiders wondering how crypto-based companies will fare. in America after such losses.
Although it has been said that “there is no one left to bank crypto companies”, some in the crypto space have already highlighted the remaining options.
One Twitter user called out another after he said that “basically there is no one left to bank crypto companies in the US” by listing a few banks with crypto clients.
This is false. United Texas Bank, Western Alliance Bank, JP Morgan Chase, and Bank of New York Mellon all have crypto businesses as customers, and there are probably more. https://t.co/Q27bkzq2n8
—yuga.eth (@yugacohler) March 13, 2023
This is false. United Texas Bank, Western Alliance Bank, JP Morgan Chase, and Bank of New York Mellon all have cryptocurrency companies as clients, and there are probably more.
Along with that rebuttal, several users started compiling ready from banks that could still be long-term options for smaller cryptocurrency trades. Although the situation around banks, cryptocurrencies and stablecoins is fragile, there are still major options for those working in the space.
Bank of New York (BNY) Mellon
On October 11, 2022, BNY Mellon announced the official launch of its digital custody platform for institutional clients to hold Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH).
BNY Mellon reports that it has $43 trillion in assets under custody, though it has not disclosed how much of that total includes BTC and ETH holdings. In March 2022, Circle chose BNY Mellon as one of its custodians for its USD Coin (USDC) reserves.
On Feb. 9, during a cryptocurrency panel at Afore Consulting’s 7th Annual FinTech and Regulation Conference, the bank’s head of advanced solutions Michael Demissie said that digital assets are “here to stay.”
In light of recent events involving SVB, Circle also announced that it was working on “expanding relationships” with existing partners, including BNY Mellon.
JPMorgan
JPMorgan launched its Onyx Digital Assets platform back in November 2020, which has since processed more than $430 billion in transactions.
The firm recently began exploring “deposit tokens” as an alternative to privately issued stablecoins and central bank digital currencies on commercial bank blockchains.
Deposit tokens, in theory, can exist in both public and permissioned blockchain environments for uses such as peer-to-peer payments, supporting smart contract programmability, or serving as cash collateral.
JPMorgan has also piloted the use of blockchain, including collateral settlement, repo transactions, and cross-border transactions.
Cross River
Cross River, a US-based financial services company, provides cryptographic solutions to fintech companies. He has served clients both inside and outside of the cryptocurrency space, including cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and financial services giants Visa and Mastercard.
On March 13, days after the USDC withdrawal, Circle announced Cross River as its new commercial banking partner for producing and redeeming USDC.
BCB Group
The British bank offers a custody solution for BTC and ETH wallets and has served the likes of Coinbase and Bitstamp since it was approved to provide digital services by the UK Financial Conduct Authority in late January 2020. .
After SVB’s fall, Oliver von Landsberg-Sadie, CEO of BCB Group, tweeted that the group has no ties to SVB or Signature and no “material amount of its own” in USDC.
1/ .@BCBcrypto holds no material amount of its own funds in USDC, however BCB’s services relating to USDC include trading and custody through BCB Prime Services (Switzerland).
— Oliver von Landsberg-Sadie (@OliverBCB) March 11, 2023
BCB Group does not hold any significant amount of its own funds in USDC, however BCB’s USDC related services include trading and custody through BCB Prime Services (Switzerland).
Customers Bank
The bank offers instant payments for business-to-business transactions and instant settlement for cryptocurrency trading companies, exchanges, liquidity providers, over-the-counter trading desks, market makers, and institutional investors on its “TassatPay” platform.
TasatPay has processed more than $1 trillion worth of transactions since its launch in 2019, including $150 billion in January alone, according to recent reports.
Shortly after the crash of former cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Customers Bank announced that it had no ties to FTX and that its “CBIT-related deposit balances” are holding steady at $1.85 billion. He claimed to have more than $20 billion in assets.
dbs
The Singaporean bank offers its own custody platform, DBS Digital Custody, to clients who can buy BTC, ETH, XRP (XRP), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Polkadot (DOT), and Cardano (ADA) on the DBS Digital exchange. Custody.
DBS also offers a standalone financial tool, which it calls the DBS Digital Exchange and is backed by the bank. DBS DDEx operates “members-only exchanges”, through which users have access to digital assets, including security tokens and cryptocurrencies.
OCBC
OCBC clients cannot purchase crypto assets directly on the platform. However, OCBC bank accounts can be connected to an authorized trading platform with which it is associated, such as eToro, to purchase digital assets.
Mercury Bank
Mercury Bank boasts in its offering of banking services for Web3 startups, decentralized autonomous organizations and funds. However, it explicitly states that it cannot work with “money service companies” or exchanges.
Although cryptocurrency itself cannot be held in a Mercury account, in its FAQ, it says that it does not “express restrictions” on purchasing crypto through a Mercury account.
The company has been active on Twitter since the bankruptcy of the US bank chain and has stated that it is prepared to register customers affected by the incident.
Our onboarding teams are working hard to make sure your applications are getting approved this weekend.
If you’re looking to submit an application, a priority signup link is below. https://t.co/NqOuuDgCt4
— Mercury (@mercury) March 11, 2023
Our onboarding teams are hard at work making sure your applications are approved this weekend.
Axos Bank
Another crypto-friendly bank, Axos, began offering its commercial banking clients access to TassatPay in May 2022. TassatPay is a digital payments alternative on a private, permissioned, blockchain-based platform that enables real-time payment capabilities. 24 hours a day, approved by a primary banking regulator. To date, it has processed more than $400 billion in transactions.
Axos also offers access to multiple cryptocurrency-related exchange-traded funds (ETFs), such as the Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund (BITW), Bitwise Crypto Industry Innovation ETF (BITQ), ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO), and ProShares Short Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITI). ), among others.
Swiss banks
According to a recent Reuters report, banks in Switzerland are seeing an influx of interest from US crypto firms following recent events.
Cryptocurrency-focused bank SEBA said it has seen a “sharp increase” in traffic to its website from visitors from the United States.
Swiss-based Arab Bank reported an increase in US companies, mostly in the crypto space, looking to open accounts after doubts about Silveragte mounted. According to the report, 80% had been Silvergate customers.
Swiss bank Sygnum is also a crypto-friendly bank, billing itself as “the world’s first digital asset bank.” Although they have a policy of not accepting US clients due to unclear regulations.
More banks at the service of cryptocurrencies
Although this list of options available to crypto businesses is not exhaustive, it does highlight that there might still be a light at the end of the tunnel.
Other banks that could be of potential interest to the crypto industry include Jewel, Series, State Street Bank, Goldman, Capital Union, and First Digital, among others.
Jake Chervinsky, head of policy at the Blockchain Association, tweeted that with the fall of SVB, Silvergate, and Signature, there is now a huge void in the space for “crypto-friendly banking.”
The closures of Silvergate, SVB, and Signature create a huge gap in the market for crypto-friendly banking.
There are many banks that can seize this opportunity without taking on the same risks as these three.
The question is if banking regulators will try to stand in the way.
—Jake Chervinsky (@jchervinsky) March 12, 2023
The closures of Silvergate, SVB and Signature create a huge void in the crypto-friendly banking market.
There are many banks that can take advantage of this opportunity without taking the same risks as these three.
The question is whether bank regulators will try to get in the way.
Continuous saying that since cryptocurrency companies will need new accounts, this is an “opportunity” that banks can take advantage of, but without the same risks as the three that failed.
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