Martin Gruenberg, chair of the United States Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), has stated at a March 29 hearing of the US House Financial Services Committee that the agency plans to return approximately $4 billion in deposits associated with Signature Bank’s digital asset banking business by early April.
Reports had indicated that the FDIC would close all crypto-related accounts not part of a New York Community Bancorp subsidiary’s bid for Signature by April 5 if depositors hadn’t moved their funds. Additionally, Gruenberg commented that Signet, Signature’s payments platform which was not included in the NYCB deal, was “in the process now of being marketed.”
The FDIC, along with New York financial regulators, closed the crypto-friendly bank on March 12 due to the risk posed to the US economy after Silicon Valley Bank and Silvergate Bank had failed. Nellie Liang, undersecretary for domestic finance at the US Treasury Department, claimed during the hearing that she did not think crypto “played a direct role” in the failure of either Signature or Silicon Valley Bank.
