Signature Bank’s Potential Purchasers Have to Agree to Give Up All Crypto Enterprise: Reuters

UPDATE (March 17, 2023, 00:ten UTC): The FDIC denied Reuters’ reporting on Thursday. Click right here for extra.

Reuters initial reported the improvement on Wednesday evening, citing persons familiar with the matter. The Federal Deposit Insurance coverage Corp. stated bids for the bank have to be submitted by Friday, the report stated.

The New York-primarily based bank’s weekend closure came two days just after the collapse of one more bank, California-primarily based Silicon Valley Bank, and much less than a week just after the voluntary closure of one more California-primarily based bank, Silvergate Bank. All 3 of the now-defunct banks have been regarded as crypto-friendly monetary institutions.

A class-action lawsuit was filed against Signature Bank in February, alleging the bank knew about – and facilitated – the “now infamous FTX fraud.” Particularly, the suit accuses Signature Bank of getting understanding of and permitting “the commingling of [the FTX exchange’s] client funds inside its proprietary, blockchain-primarily based payments network, Signet.”

Barney Frank, a Signature Bank board member and former Democratic U.S. congressman who co-authored the Dodd-Frank Act, also recommended the takeover was spurred by an anti-crypto motive, telling CNBC that Signature Bank was solvent – and that regulators intervened anyway to send a message.

“I assume aspect of what occurred was that regulators wanted to send a incredibly robust anti-crypto message,” Frank told CNBC.

On the other hand, the New York Division of Monetary Solutions has denied that crypto had something to do with its choice to shutter Signature Bank, rather saying that was due to a “crisis of confidence” in the bank’s leadership.

The FDIC did not right away return a request for comment.