In First ‘Pure Crypto’ Rent, Silvergate Financial institution Recruits Blockstream Liquid Community Exec

Crypto-friendly Silvergate Financial institution has made its first rent from the hardcore bitcoin group to help an bold roadmap for its enterprise serving digital foreign money shoppers. 

Benjamin Richman, previously director of enterprise improvement and partnerships at bitcoin tech start-up Blockstream, joined the La Jolla, Calif.-based financial institution on the finish of final month as director of digital foreign money. 

“We have employed folks which are from tech firms that have been offering providers to some crypto firms, and we’ve employed former regulation enforcement to assist us with AML/KYC/BSA, however within the pure crypto house Benjamin may be the primary,” Silvergate Chief Govt Alan Lane instructed CoinDesk. 

The rent reveals Silvergate’s deepening dedication to serving a distinct segment the place most banks concern to tread, owing partly to the excessive prices of anti-money-laundering, know-your-customer and Financial institution Secrecy Act compliance Lane talked about.  

At Blockstream, an outfit pursuing bleeding-edge tech enhancements for bitcoin, Richman was answerable for the expansion of Liquid, a sidechain, or parallel community typically used to maneuver cash between exchanges.

In his new job, Richman will likely be answerable for crypto buyer progress for Silvergate. He takes over the obligation from the chief vp of company improvement, Ben Reynolds, who will concentrate on the financial institution’s newer initiatives resembling crypto-collateralized loans and the financial institution’s utility for a New York belief firm license. 

Earlier this month, the financial institution launched the Silvergate Trade Community’s (SEN) Leverage product, which permits proprietary merchants to place up bitcoin as collateral for fiat loans they’ll then use to purchase extra bitcoin, much like margin lending within the conventional markets. The financial institution additionally applied for the New York belief license with the intention of offering custody and settlement for crypto. 

The financial institution, which went public on the New York Inventory Trade in November, is one in every of a handful within the U.S. that can present accounts to crypto exchanges, startups and merchants. (Signature, Metropolitan Business and Cross River are among the many few others.) Early final yr, Silvergate sold its retail department and enterprise lending group to concentrate on its specialty enterprise strains, together with crypto, a wealthy supply of low-cost deposits.