Paxos, Coinbase reveal exposure to collapsed Signature Bank

Key Takeaways

• Coinbase disclosed it had around $240 million in corporate funds at the bank that it expected would be fully recovered.
• Paxos tweeted it had around $250 million held at the bank
• Tether, Crypto, com claims zero exposure to bank

Following the collapse of Signature bank, several crypto firms have come forward, disclosing their exposure to the troubled bank. One such firm is the crypto exchange Coinbase which revealed that it had approximately $240 million in corporate funds at the bank that it expected would be fully recovered.

As of close of business Friday March 10 Coinbase had an approximately $240m balance in corporate cash at Signature. As stated by the FDIC, we expect to fully recover these funds. https://t.co/XY5L7m4RMs

— Coinbase (@coinbase) March 12, 2023

Apart from Coinbase, stablecoin issuer Paxos also announced its exposure to the failed bank. Paxos tweeted it had around $250 million held at the bank while also adding it held insurance for private deposits in excess of the balance Paxos currently has at Signature Bank holds and FDIC per-account limits of $250,000 per depositor.

Paxos currently holds $250M at Signature Bank and holds private deposit insurance well in excess of our cash balance and FDIC per-account limits. Seeking private deposit insurance is part of our conservative approach to managing customer assets exceeding FDIC insurance limits.

— Paxos (@PaxosGlobal) March 12, 2023

The Celsius Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors also tweeted that Signature Bank “held some of its funds” but however did not disclose the amount.

Following Signature bank implosion Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire announced the exchange would no longer be able to process minting and redemption through the collapsed bank and would handle settlements through BNY Mellon. Circle was also deeply affected by the implosion of Silicon Valley bank, another prominent tech-forward bank like Signature. Circle had around $3.3 billion of its $40 billion of USD Coin reserves at the collapsed lender Silicon Valley Bank.

While Circle, Paxos, and Coinbase were announcing their exposure to Signature Bank, several companies in the crypto space were disclosing no exposure to the bank.

Stablecoin firm Tether’s CTO Paolo Ardoino and Crypto exchange Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek both tweeted non-exposure to Signature Bank. The decentralized credit bureau Creditcoin also announced it had no exposure to Silicon Valley Bank or Signature Bank 

While SVB was closed by regulators on Friday, Signature Bank faced its closure on March 12 by the United States Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as it claimed the bank posed a “systemic risk.” The U.S. Treasury Department, along with other bank regulators, had stated that all depositors of Signature Bank would be made whole, and “no losses will be borne by the taxpayer.” The Signature bank collapse is also the third-largest in U.S. banking history.