The Biden administration has been monitoring the ongoing Silvergate Bank crisis, White House press sec Karine Jean-Pierre told the media on Monday.
She added that she could not comment on Silvergate specifically, but stated that United States president Joe Biden had urged Congress to act on the situation.
She also said that numerous crypto firms had “experience[d] significant issues” over the last few weeks, citing statements from banking regulators that cautioned of cryptocurrencies’ potential risks to banks and global financial institutions.
Jean-Pierre said in a statement,
“In recent weeks banking regulators have released guidelines on how banks should protect themselves from risks associated with crypto. As you know, this is a president that has repeatedly called on Congress to take action to protect everyday Americans from the risk posted by digital assets and he will continue to do so.”
She added: “[I] won’t speak to this particular company as we have not on other cryptocurrency companies, but we’re going to continue monitoring reports, and currently we’re aware of the situation.”
Silvergate Ties to FTX
The news comes after Silvergate announced on Friday last week it would cease operations of its Silvergate Exchange Network. The platform allowed customers to settle transactions outside normal banking operations or hours.
Silvergate also said in a recent press release that it would delay its annual report filings, adding it would become “less than well capitalized” after selling its debt securities.
This forced multiple exchanges such as Coinbase Global, Gemini, Galaxy Digital, and Bitstamp to sever ties to Silvergate after the bank allegedly facilitated illegal banking transactions for FTX.
Silvergate’s involvement with the now-defunct crypto exchange and its research subsidiary, Alameda Research, took place just days before the latter two firms filed for bankruptcy in November.
The bank’s stock plummeted as a result, falling 58% in a single day before largely stabilizing. A number of the bank’s most prominent crypto clients have announced they would suspend their business with Silvergate,
“[I] won’t speak to this particular company as we have not on other cryptocurrency companies, but we’re going to continue monitoring reports, and currently we’re aware of the situation,” Jean-Pierre said Monday.
