Flagstar Bank has agreed to acquire Signature Bank in a deal that excludes the bank’s crypto deposits. The decision is leading some commentators to again accuse the U.S. government of pushing an anti-crypto agenda
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) announced that it had entered a purchase agreement with Flagstar Bank, a New York Community Bancorp, Inc. subsidiary. The deal involves “substantially all deposits and certain loan portfolios” of the Signature bank.
But $4 billion in deposits of Signature Bank’s crypto-related businesses are not a part of the deal. Instead, FDIC said it would return the deposits directly to customers.
Signet Under FDIC Receivership
Along with deposits of Web3 businesses, the deal has also excluded Signature Bank’s payment network, Signet. Many Web3 businesses, such as Circle, the issuer of the stablecoin USDC used it.
According to Bloomberg, an FDIC spokesperson confirmed that Signet will remain under the agency’s control and “will be subject to later arrangement.”
Reuters reported that the regulators asked the bidders to “give up all the crypto business” at the Signature bank. Later, the FDIC said this was untrue. Now, venture capitalist Nic Carter believes that the FDIC lied and Reuters was indeed correct. Carter also has a strong opinion that the regulators have started Operation Choke Point 2.0 to cut the banking access of crypto businesses.
Signature Bank Reopens
On Monday, 40 branches of Signature Bank reopened under the ownership of Flagstar. The New York Community Bancorp’s subsidiary purchased $38.4 billion in assets and loans of $12.9 billion at a discount of $2.7 billion. The deal also does not include approximately $60 billion in loans which remain under the FDIC receivership. As a part of the agreement, the FDIC received common stock with a potential value of up to $300 million.
The Federal Reserve closed the Signature bank on March 12 to “protect the U.S. economy.” In contrast, some believe that the shutdown was due to political reasons while the bank was solvent.
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Disclaimer
BeInCrypto has reached out to company or individual involved in the story to get an official statement about the recent developments, but it has yet to hear back.
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