Silvergate Q1 Revenue Surges Despite Falling Crypto Trading Activity

Silvergate Bank – a bank dedicated to serving crypto industry institutions – saw its Q1 income nearly double over last year’s figures. However, it also reports falling BTC and ETH spot trading volume from the last quarter.

• According to the bank’s Q1 earnings report unveiled on Tuesday, income for common shareholders increased 34% from the prior quarter, and 94% from last year.
• Meanwhile, revenue rose 22% and 93% from last quarter and last year, respectively. The company’s assets – worth $15.8 billion – have more than doubled since 2021.
• However, Silvergate only facilitated $142 billion in SEN transfers between crypto exchanges and financial institutions this quarter. That’s down from $219 billion in late 2021, and $167 billion from this time last year.
• This is coupled with a broader lack of trading interest in the crypto market in recent months. According to Coinmetrics data, BTC and ETH barely topped $1 trillion in trading volume this quarter – down 33% from the last.
• Nevertheless, this hasn’t impacted the company’s transaction revenue, which has stayed relatively flat over the past three quarters. This has allowed overall revenue to surge, most of which comes from interest income.
• One of the companies paying said interest is MicroStrategy, which recently took out a $205M Bitcoin collateralized loan with Silvergate to buy more Bitcoin.
• Silvergate’s digital currency deposits have also continued to steadily rise, averaging $14.7 billion from exchanges and institutional investors. So too have the company’s digital currency customers, now numbering over 1500.
• The bank was recently responsible for buying out Diem, Facebook’s recently abandoned stablecoin project, for $182 million. It seeks to expand its stablecoin infrastructure to spur its growth.