Silvergate Capital Crashes As FTX Collapse Fuels Bank Run

Shares of Silvergate Capital Corp (SI:US) closed nearly 43% lower on Thursday after the bank said it was forced to fire 40% of its staff following disastrous crypto-specific developments.

Silvergate said that its customers withdrew $8.1 billion of cryptocurrencies during Q4 after U.S. crypto exchange FTX collapsed in a spectacular fashion. As a result, the bank was forced to sell its digital assets at a $718 million loss in order to fund excess withdrawals.

“In response to the rapid changes in the digital asset industry during the fourth quarter, we took commensurate steps to ensure that we were maintaining cash liquidity in order to satisfy potential deposit outflows, and we currently maintain a cash position in excess of our digital asset related deposits,” Chief Executive Officer Alan Lane said in the statement.

Shares plunged 42.73% on Wednesday to close at $12.57 after hitting the lowest level since April 2020. Furthermore, SI stock is down a further 12% in the open market Friday.

The plunge in SI stock comes just a few weeks after former Congressman Chris Jacobs sold some Silvergate shares. Mr. Jacobs, who represented New York's 27th congressional district, sold shares on November 08 when SI stock closed at $39.42. He previously bought SI shares on July 18 when shares closed at $65.05.

Aside from Jacobs, Senator Thomas Carper reported two transactions involving buying SI stock. Senator Carper was buying Silvergate stock on November 20, 2020, and January 31, 2022, when shares had closed at $30.50 and $107.74, respectively. Silvergate shares trade almost 90% lower since Carper’s latest purchase.