Signature Bank’s real-time crypto payments network still online, for now

SIGNATURE Bank’s payments network — used by cryptocurrency firms looking to exchange fiat currency in real-time — is still online even after the lender was put into receivership.

Signet, a blockchain-based system, has been a key piece of the infrastructure powering the 24/7 crypto market. The system, a competitor to Silvergate Capital’s now-defunct SEN, counted stablecoin issuer Circle, crypto exchange Coinbase and a range of crypto trading shops among its users. Signet used technology developed by Tassat, which builds private blockchains for banks.

“Signet has operated smoothly and without interruption during this period to help facilitate needed intra-bank payments for Signature’s clients,” Tassat chief executive officer Kevin Greene said in an emailed statement. “Tassat’s technology continues to perform without interruption,” Greene said.

One person at a crypto trading firm, who spoke to Bloomberg on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorised to discuss company matters, said they had successfully completed transactions on Monday (Mar 13). Another person, a trader who works with large crypto companies, said two of their trading partners had been able to make crypto deposits and withdrawals as of Monday afternoon in New York.

A third person, who asked not to be named discussing private conversations, acknowledged that Signet was operational but wouldn’t say whether and for how long it might continue to function.

Signature was put into receivership by regulators in New York on Sunday, just days after the collapse of SVB Financial Group’s banking arm caused panic among venture capitalists in Silicon Valley and around the world. The successive bank failures prompted significant interventions from federal regulators in an attempt to stop further contagion.

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A representative for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which was put in charge of Signature after its receivership, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. BLOOMBERG