The New York-based bank’s weekend closure came two days after the collapse of another bank, California-based Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), and less than a week after the closure of another California-based bank, Silvergate Bank. All three of the now-defunct banks were known to be crypto-friendly financial institutions.
A class-action lawsuit was filed against Signature Bank in February, alleging that the bank knew about and assisted in the “now infamous FTX scam.” Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that Signature Bank was aware of and allowed the “commingling of FTX customer funds within its proprietary, blockchain-based payments network, Signet.”
Barney Frank, a board member of Signature Bank and a former Democratic congressman who co-authored the Dodd-Frank Act, also suggested that the acquisition was fueled by an anti-crypto motive, telling CNBC that Signature Bank was solvent – and that regulators would have intervened anyway to send a message.
“I think part of what happened was that regulators wanted to send a very strong anti-crypto message,” Frank told CNBC.
However, the New York Department of Treasury (NYDFS) has denied that crypto had anything to do with its decision to shut down Signature Bank, instead saying it was due to a “crisis of confidence” in the bank’s leadership.
Offers to acquire Signature Bank are due by Friday, March 17, according to Portal.
The FDIC did not immediately respond to CoinDesk’s request for comment.