Silvergate CEO Alan Lane and Chief Legal Officer John Bonino left the company on Tuesday as the company, once known for its crypto-friendly bank, continues to wind down operations.
Their departure from the California-based company came in voluntary liquidation in March—effective immediately and representing the latest phase of the shutdown process, according to a FILING with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The announcement also said that Silvergate’s Chief Financial Officer Antonio Martino will leave on Sept.
Silvergate’s most high-profile departures come after the company’s headcount was reduced by one skeleton crew in May, where 230 of the company’s workers were shown at the exit. Silvergate Bank once served some of the biggest crypto players, including Coinbase and Gemini, but losing them has been the company’s top priority for months.
The chief executive officer remaining at Silvergate is Kathleen Fraher, who was listed as Silvergate’s chief executive officer in the filing. His LinkedIn profile shows that he served as the bank’s chief risk officer for 17 years.
Silvergate did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Decrypt.
Silvergate’s move to shutter in March was followed by the failures of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank, which were also viewed as crypto-friendly banks.
Silvergate’s instant settlement platform, SEN, is a staple of its business and is heavily used by institutional crypto clients who conduct round-the-clock transfers. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation highlighted the risk of serving many crypto clients at once in a report on Monday, saying that the practice could introduce liquidity risks.
Silvergate’s troubles became apparent when it exposed that users took $8.1 billion in crypto deposits in the last fiscal quarter of last year. This is the same time that the cryptocurrency exchange FTX was launched and disrupted the market for digital assets.
To weather the massive withdrawals, the company tapped the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) for a $4.3 billion loan and sold about $5.2 billion in debt securities. It is the former action which took the anger of some US Senators.
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is among a bipartisan group of lawmakers who called out Lane in a letter. They checked the bank FTX link and accused his company of “introducing more[ing] risk in the crypto market in the traditional banking system. “
