The broader cryptocurrency neighborhood continues to debate the continued fallout following the closure of three main American banks, with requires neobank providers for the business on the playing cards.
Silicon Valley Financial institution (SVB), which has historically served startups throughout a number of innovation sector industries, was shuttered by California’s Department of Financial Protection and Innovation on March 10.
The reasons surrounding the closure are still coming to light, but the news caused shockwaves through the industry,primarily driven by USD Coin (USDC) issuer Circle having over $3.3 billion of its $40 billion reserves locked up in the bank.
Signature Bank, which also serves cryptocurrency firms, met a similar fate on March 12. The New York Department of Financial Services took possession of the bank to prevent further bank runs as customers scrambled to pull funds from SVB and Signature.
The closure of SVB was particularly hard-hitting, with the USDC stablecoin briefly losing its $1 peg driven by major uncertainty around the effect Circle’s exposure would have on its ability to manage redemptions.
Silicon Valley Bank collapse: Everything that’s happened until now
USDC has seen its peg creep back up to the $1 mark after Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire announced that the stablecoin issuer has lined up new banking partners in the United States.
Given the tumult of the past few days, the cryptocurrency ecosystem is now taking a closer look at ties to traditional finance institutions that serve fiat currency deposits, withdrawals and monetary flows.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong took to Twitter on March 13, saying the American cryptocurrency exchange has previously considered features that could potentially bypass or serve to bridge gaps exposed in the latest mainstream banking failure.
Ryan Lackey, chief strategy officer of cryptocurrency insurance firm Evertas, questioned whether the exchange had considered offering neobanking services to high-net-worth individuals and businesses:
Hey @brian_armstrong and @coinbase — after the SVB hell over the weekend, why do not you arrange Coinbase as some sort of HNW + enterprise neobank, with the “move by belongings to neighborhood banks and treasuries” as a first-class possibility in parallel with crypto.
— Ryan Lackey (@octal) March 13, 2023
Armstrong replied by saying that Coinbase would want so as to add numerous options and opened the door for feedback within the thread:
“Undoubtedly one thing we’ve considered. Want a number of extra options like outbound wires, multi-user assist and so on. Non-fractional reserve “banking” is unquestionably trying extra enticing proper now.”
The closure of SVB and Signature Bank caused fears of widespread runs on regional banks across the United States over the weekend. A Bloomberg report additionally means that the USA Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance coverage Company are weighing up the creation of a fund to cowl deposits at ailing banks.
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