In the fourth quarter of 2021, the digital-asset-friendly bank Silvergate took in $2.1 billion in deposits from cryptocurrency companies, with the average total reaching $13.3 billion.
Silvergate serves 1,381 clients in the digital industry. From October to December 2021, their number rose by 76; for the year as a whole, by 412.
The bank’s fee income derived from such clients for the latest reporting period amounted to $9.3 million. By comparison: in Q3 2021 it was $8.1 million, in Q4 last year $3.8 million. For the full year 2021 the figure reached $35.8 million, versus $11.1 million a year earlier.
Net income in October-December 2021 was $21.4 million, compared with $23.5 million in the preceding three months and $9.1 million in Q4 2020. For 2021, Silvergate earned $78.5 million for shareholders — more than three times the $26 million a year earlier.
“The strong momentum in 2021 was driven by robust demand for our digital-currency solutions built on the Silvergate Exchange Network [SEN]. We also continued to develop our infrastructure capabilities for stablecoin issuers and announced the launch of the EJF Silvergate venture fund,” said CEO Alan Lane.
SEN is a payment network that enables instant payments required for arbitrage in digital asset markets. In Q4 2021, transfers in it totaled $219.2 billion, up 35% from the same period a year earlier. For the year, the figure rose 5.8-fold to $787.4 billion.
The bank continues to develop the Bitcoin-backed lending program, SEN Leverage. As of December 31, the value of outstanding loans issued under the initiative stood at $570.5 million. As of September 30 this figure was $322.5 million, and as of December 31, 2020 — $82.5 million.
In March, Fidelity Investments became a custodian services provider in the SEN Leverage program.
In December ForkLog reported that Goldman Sachs and other U.S. investment banks are considering a tri-party repo arrangement with collateral in the form of Bitcoin futures.
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