Topic: [2018-11-22] ‘Crypto Bank’ Silvergate Files for $50 Million IPO (Read 159 times)

It's pretty much the one and only game in town for many US crypto operations. If it shut up shop it would be a humongous hit. It's quite strange how little is spoken about how fragile the banking links are. I wonder if they've come under pressure from larger banks. I sure as shit hope not.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/31/meet-silvergates-alan-lane-whos-bankrolling-cryptocurrency-exchanges.html

Yup, this 50 million IPO is weird

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/silvergate-capital-corporation-completes-114-million-common-stock-sale-300603795.html


They've just issued 114 million worth of shares, they are now aiming for a 50m IPO?
For a bank that claims to deal with 1.7  billion in crypto assets, the sum is just way to low.

$50 million in capital for a bank is tiny (unless that’s normal doe America).
Banks in the uk usually have a few billion (the most profitable has £7 trillion and 200 million usd).

Strange I haven't heard of them, especially when their clients are some of the old school exchanges like Kraken and Paxful. Always assumed these guys were dealing with the likes of Bank of America and what not.

$50m capital actually doesn't sound like that much but perhaps still significant given current conditions. Begs the question actually of all the others who tried launching offerings with similar scope and ambition: did they really need all those hundred of millions of dollars in targets?

California-based financial institution Silvergate Capital, the parent company of Silvergate Bank, is preparing to go public to raise $50 million in an initial public offering (IPO), according to documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The bank has applied to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol “SI.” The company plans to use proceeds to funds its organic growth and for “general corporate purposes, which could include repayment of long-term debt, future acquisitions, and other growth initiatives.”

Silvergate Bank is best known for opening its arms to cryptocurrency exchanges and companies, who are often shunned by mainstream institutions who fear the money laundering baggage that seems to follow bitcoin and the regulatory uncertainties associated with servicing crypto firms. The bank has grown larger in recent years, drawing in clients such as Paxos, Gemini, and Kraken. Having signed its first cryptocurrency client in 2014, the Digital Currency Group, the company has gone on to generate approximately $1.7 billion from the digital currency sector, according to the filing.

The company’s willingness to work with cryptocurrency companies has seen it onboard approximately 483 established and new digital currency customers as of September 30. There are also 145 prospective crypto customers currently being onboarded by the bank, where they perform “extensive regulatory compliance diligence and integrating of the customer’s technology stack for those digital currency customers interested in using our API.”

CCN | https://www.ccn.com/crypto-bank-silvergate-files-for-50-million-ipo/