While two of the crypto industry’s biggest backers have fallen, crypto companies are not overwhelmed with the many alternative and crypto-friendly support options.
Last week’s collapse of three major banks backing the crypto space — Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Silvergate Bank, and Signature Bank — left many industry experts wondering how U.S. crypto companies will fare after such losses.
While some say “no one is left banking crypto companies,” some in the cryptocurrency space have highlighted the remaining options.
Another user spoke out after one Twitter user claimed that "basically no one is left to bank crypto companies in the U.S." by listing some banks with crypto clients.
This is wrong. Texas Union, Western Union, JPMorgan Chase, and BNY Mellon all have crypto businesses as clients, and there may be more.
Following this rebuttal, various users began compiling lists of banks that could still serve as long-term options for small crypto operations. Although the situation around banks, cryptocurrencies and stablecoins is tenuous, there are still mainstream options for those working in the space.
Bank of New York (BNY) Mellon Bank
On October 11, 2022, Bank of New York Mellon announced the official launch of its digital custody platform for institutional clients to hold Bitcoin ( BTC ) and Ethereum
BNY Mellon reports that it has $43 trillion in assets under custody, but did not disclose how much of that includes BTC and ETH assets. In March 2022, Circle selected BNY Mellon as one of its USD Coin custodians
central bank of the united states
reserve.
Speaking on a cryptocurrency panel at Avo Consulting’s 7th annual Fintech and Regulatory Conference on February 9, Michael Demissie, the bank’s head of advanced solutions, said digital assets are “here to stay.”
In light of recent events involving SVB, Circle also announced it is "expanding relationships" with existing partners, including BNY Mellon.
JPMorgan
JPMorgan launched its Onyx digital asset platform in November 2020 and has since processed more than $430 billion in transactions.
Recently, the company began exploring “deposit tokens” as an alternative to privately issued stablecoins and central bank digital currencies on commercial bank blockchains.
In theory, deposit tokens could exist in public and permissioned blockchain environments for use including peer-to-peer payments, support smart contract programmability, or be used as cash collateral.
JPMorgan has also piloted the use of blockchain, including for collateral settlement, repurchase agreement transactions and cross-border transactions.
cross river
US-based financial services company Cross River provides crypto solutions to fintech companies. It serves clients both inside and outside the crypto space, including cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and financial services giants Visa and Mastercard.
On March 13, days after the USDC decoupling, Circle announced Cross River as its new commercial banking partner for the production and redemption of USDC.
BCB Group
The British bank, which provides custody solutions for BTC and ETH wallets, has been providing services to the likes of Coinbase and Bitstamp since being approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to provide digital services in late January 2020.
Following the SVB incident, BCB Group CEO Oliver von Landsberg-Sadie tweeted that the group has no relationship with SVB or Signature and does not have “substantial amounts of its own” in USDC.
customer bank
The bank provides instant payments and instant settlement of business-to-business transactions on its ‘TassatPay’ platform to cryptocurrency trading firms, exchanges, liquidity providers, OTC desks, market makers and institutional investors.
According to recent reports, TasatPay has processed more than $1 trillion worth of transactions since its launch in 2019, including $150 billion in January alone.
Shortly after the collapse of former cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Customers Bank announced that it had no relationship with FTX and that its “CBIT-related deposit balances” had stabilized at $1.85 billion. It claims to have more than $20 billion in assets.
DBS Bank
The Singaporean bank offers its own custody platform DBS Digital Custody for clients who can buy BTC, ETH, XRP
Ripple Bitcoin Cash BCH $126
, Polka Dot $6.36 and Cardano Ada $0.383
From DBS Digital Custody Exchange.
DBS also offers a separate financial instrument called DBS Digital Exchange, which is backed by the bank. DBS DDEx operates a “members-only exchange” through which users can access digital assets, including security tokens and cryptocurrencies.
OCBC Bank
Customers who have an account with OCBC Bank cannot purchase crypto assets directly from the platform. However, OCBC bank accounts can be connected to licensed exchanges it partners with, such as eToro, to purchase digital assets.
mercury bank
Mercury Bank is proud to provide banking services to Web3 startups, decentralized autonomous organizations, and funds. However, it made it clear that it cannot work with "money services businesses" or exchanges.
While cryptocurrencies themselves cannot be held in Mercury accounts, in its FAQ section it states that there are no "explicit restrictions" on purchasing cryptocurrencies through Mercury accounts.
The company has been active on Twitter since a series of U.S. bank collapses, saying it was ready to accommodate customers affected by the events.
Axos Bank
Axos is another crypto-friendly bank that started offering TassatPay access to its business banking customers back in May 2022. TassatPay is a digital payment alternative based on a private and permissioned blockchain platform that enables real-time payments around the clock, approved by major banking regulators. To date, it has processed more than $400 billion in transactions.
Axos also provides access to several crypto-related exchange-traded funds (ETFs), including Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund (BITW), Bitwise Crypto Industry Innovation ETF (BITQ), ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO), and ProShares Short Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITI), and more.
Swiss bank
According to a recent report from Reuters, banks in Switzerland have seen an influx of interest from U.S. cryptocurrency companies following recent events.
Cryptocurrency-focused bank SEBA said it has seen a “clear uptick” in visitors from the United States on its website.
Switzerland-based Arab Bank reported an increase in the number of U.S. companies seeking to open accounts, mostly in the crypto space, after concerns over Silveragte grew. According to the report, 80% are Silvergate customers.
Swiss bank Sygnum is also a crypto-friendly bank that bills itself as “the world’s first digital asset bank.” Although, due to unclear regulations, its policy is not to accept customers from the United States.
More banks offer services to crypto companies
While this list of options available to cryptocurrency companies is not exhaustive, it highlights that there is still light at the end of the tunnel.
Other banks that may be of interest to the crypto industry include Jewel, Series, State Street Bank, Goldman, Capital Union, First Digital, and others.
Jake Chervinsky, chief policy officer of the Blockchain Association, said on Twitter that with the collapse of SVB, Silvergate, and Signature, there is now a huge gap in the space for “crypto-friendly banking.”
Given that crypto companies will need new accounts, this is an "opportunity" for banks to seize, but without the same risks as the failed three.