Crypto Bank Silvergate Reports Q4 Loss of $1B

Crypto bank Silvergate Capital (SI) reported a net loss of $1 billion for the fourth quarter on Tuesday, compared with a net income of $40.6 million for the third quarter and net income of $18 million for the same period a year earlier.

For all of 2022, the company posted a loss of $949 million, compared with net income of $75.5 million in 2021.

Silvergate's results for the latest quarter were foreshadowed at the start of January when the company said it had $8.1 billion in outflows of customers' deposits of digital assets during the period and that it had slashed 40% of its staff. The firm expects to incur restructuring charges of $8.1 million for the layoffs, the majority of which it will recognize this quarter.

Furthermore, Silvergate recorded a $134.5 million impairment charge related to $1.7 billion of securities it expects to sell this quarter as it attempts to counter the huge amount of outflows at the end of last year.

Silvergate was rocked by contagion from the collapse of crypto firms last year that came to a head in November with the demise of crypto exchange FTX.

The bank's shares on the New York Stock Exchange were up 4.9% at $13.85 in premarket trading, while bitcoin (BTC) was up 1.7% at $21,235. Silvergate's stock has lost almost 90% over the past year.

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