Some significant cryptocurrency firms have denied exposure to defunct U.S. banks including Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) amid the ongoing banking crisis in the country.
As the potential effects of the SVB crisis on the cryptocurrency market continue to develop, a number of significant crypto companies have so far declared themselves to be untouched.
Tether
As of mid-March, one of the first businesses to reject exposure to SVB and other struggling U.S. banks was Tether, the company behind the eponymous stablecoin Tether (USDT), which is pegged to the U.S. dollar.
Paolo Ardoino, the chief technology officer of Tether, tweeted on March 12 that the stablecoin business has no exposure to Signature Bank. The tweet was sent not long after Signature’s official decision to cease operations that day.
Previously, Ardoino claimed that on March 10, Tether was not exposed to SVB. A similar statement was made by the director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in a speech to the American Society of Testing and Materials.
The largest stablecoin by market capitalization is Tether’s USDT, which at the time of writing had a market value of $73 billion. Due to Circle’s inability to remove $3.3 billion in reserves from SVB, USD Coin, its greatest rival, temporarily lost its 1:1 peg to the US currency.
Crypto.com, Gemini, BitMEX
The CEO of a large cryptocurrency exchange, Kris Marszalek, made similar claims about how the company was untouched by the current problems in U.S. banking.
Marszalek stated that Crypto.com has no exposure to Signature, Silvergate, or SVB in later tweets on March 10 and March 12.
Other significant exchanges, like Gemini and BitMEX, have likewise denied having any connection to the defunct US institutions.
The Winklevoss brothers Gemini exchange has no customer cash and no Gemini dollar (GUSD) funds maintained at the bank, the company revealed on March 13. Despite having a partnership with Signature.
Gemini stressed that institutions like JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and State Street Bank hold all of its client U.S. cash as well as its GUSD reserves.
On March 13, BitMEX exchange also announced on Twitter that it had “no direct exposure” to Silvergate, SVB, or Signature. All user funds are still secure and available around-the-clock, according to BitMEX.
Exchanges like Binance and Kraken have partially denied exposure to the defunct banks. Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance, said that Binance had no assets at Silvergate, while Jesse Powell, former CEO of Kraken, likewise disputed exposure to SVB.
Argo Blockchain
Argo Blockchain, a bitcoin mining company, declared in a statement on March 13 that it had no exposure to SVB or Silvergate Bank, either directly or indirectly.
But according to the business, one of Argo’s subsidiaries has “a percentage of its operating funds in cash deposits” at Signature. According to Argo, “These deposits are secure and are not at risk” because the U.S. Treasury and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation decided to save client deposits at the bank.
Some businesses, such as Animoca Brands, Abra, and Alchemy Pay, have partially denied having any connection to the failed US banks by claiming that they had no assets at SBV and Silvergate.
Other businesses, like cryptocurrency custodian BitGo, claimed they were “not harmed” by Silvergate, USDC, or Signature Bank’s problems because they hold no assets with SVB.
