Signature Bank Adds $6.3B in Deposits from Digital Asset Customers

Signature Bank added $6.3 billion in deposits from digital asset customers in Q2, giving the New York-based bank $18 billion in total assets from these customers, the company revealed in its Q2 earnings call.

The company also said it will offer its first bitcoin-backed loans either this month or early next month.

The deposits by digital asset customers comprised more than half of the $11.6 billion increase in total deposits at the bank in Q2. The figure compares with growth of $4.4 billion in the first quarter 2021.

"It's stablecoin reserves, it's OTC desks and institutional traders, digital asset exchanges and blockchain technology and digital miners," said Signature Bank CEO Joe DePaolo.

Of the $6.3 billion in Q2 deposits from digital asset customers, $3.4 billion were made by digital asset exchanges, $1.9 billion were stablecoin reserves, $600 million were assets deposited by OTC desks and institutional traders and about $300 million “give or take” by blockchain technology and digital miners, DePaolo said.

Signature currently banks five stablecoin issuers, four of which have their money in non-interesting bearing accounts and one of which has its funds in interest-bearing accounts. The bank nearly doubled its non-interest-bearing accounts to $6.14 billion in Q2.
While its rival Silvergate Bank reported Tuesday it had approved extended credit lines of up to $258.5 million for its bitcoin-backed loans product, Signature will extend its first bitcoin-backed loan at the end of July or beginning of August, DePaolo said.

UPDATE (JULY 20, 21:00 UTC): Adds digital asset customer deposit numbers from earnings call.