Bitcoin, crypto prices subdued following Silvergate ‘wind down’ announcement

Cryptocurrency prices continued to trade in a relatively tight range, with volumes down following the collapse of crypto-friendly bank Silvergate. 

Bitcoin was trading around $21,650 by 11 a.m. EST, down about 2%, according to TradingView data. Ether followed suit, dropping 1.7% to $1,540. 

BTCUSD chart by TradingView

Altcoins could not beat the drop as sentiment in the market worsened following the latest major failure. Market maker GSR noted the collapse of Silvergate weakened the crypto ecosystem’s banking support. Binance’s BNB slipped 1.1%, Ripple’s XRP was down 1%, and Polygon’s MATIC shed 2.5%. 

“Sentiment does seem to have weakened, with both funding rates and the annualized basis on Binance heading lower,” Noelle Acheson, former head of market insights at Genesis, wrote in her daily newsletter.

‘Covered – not rated’

Silvergate announced its intention to wind down operations and voluntarily liquidate the bank on Wednesday. Bringing an end to one of crypto’s most prominent banks. SI was trading down 32% by 11:05 a.m. EST, according to TradingView data. 

SI chart by TradingView

The bank expects to make full repayment of all deposits. KBW analysts said in a note last night the bank had excess cash ($4.6 billion) relative to crypto-deposits ($3.8 billion) as of Dec. 31. Silvergate was downgraded to “cover – not rated” by KBW last week after it suspended the Silvergate Exchange Network. 

Coinbase shares were down 1.7% to about $61, while shares in Jack Dorsey’s Block traded down 0.2% to approximately $77.80. 

MicroStrategy dropped 2.2% to trade around $227. The software firm has an outstanding loan worth $205 million with Silvergate. KBW’s analyst said the loan was “significantly over-collateralized with bitcoin and performing as of year-end, we don’t have insight into how, or at what value this loan could be liquidated at.”

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