The US Bank Silvergate defends connections to the crypto groups of Sam Bankman-Fried

The US bank Silvergate defended its role in accepting deposits for Sam Bankman-Fried's conglomerate and explained that it carried out a "comprehensive Due Diligence" at the FTX crypto tour and Alameda Research trading.

The lender based in California admitted in a US admission application late Monday that he processed transfers for companies and individuals who dealt with Alameda.

The explanation of Silvergate, which is regulated by the US Federal Reserve and is noted on the New York Stock Exchange, emphasizes the connections that Bankman-Fried's crypto companies had with the US financial system.

It comes after Bankman-Fried said in recent public explanations that customers of the stock exchange would instead transfer money to Alameda for several years before FTX built up its own banking relationships.

Silvergate boss Alan Lane said in a public letter to the US stock exchange supervisory authority Securities and Exchange Commission that companies or people who have had to do with Alameda were "dependent on Alameda to transfer funds to Alameda's account, be it at Silvergate or one of their other bank partners".

lane added: "When Silvergate received payments directed to Alameda Research and were credited with the account of the same name. This corresponded to the instructions of the sender of the email and industry practice".

The FTX banking relationships are the focus of the explanation of founder Bankman-Fried, such as the stock exchange forced to a lack of customer funds in the amount of several billion dollars, which forced the company worth $ 32 billion last month into bankruptcy, in a collapse that has a sector from cryptocurrency.

Bankman-Fried said that a failure that billions of FTX customer funds were transferred to the accounts of Alameda were properly taken into account, the stock exchange left behind with a faulty image of its financial situation. He said Alameda apparently spent the money, although it remained credited with the customer accounts at FTX.

Alameda had at least eight accounts at Silvergate, according to files of the newly appointed management of FTX at the Delaware Insolvency Court. The bank also managed more than a dozen accounts for Bankman-Fried's other shops.

lane said that Silvergate had carried out "a comprehensive DUE diligence test by FTX and its affiliated companies, including Alameda Research" before you write it down as a customer and on the ongoing basis.

Silvergate said last month that his relationship with FTX was limited to deposit accounts and that the stock exchange made less than 10 percent of the $ 12 billion the bank made for crypto customers at the end of September.

silvergate monitored his accounts on suspicious transactions and the "economic owner, the source of funds as well as the purpose and the expected use of the funds". Lane said Alameda received customer transfers as part of his over-the-counter crypto trading business.

If it found suspicious activities, the bank would "submit a suspicion report in accordance with the federal regulations," he added.

The bank, which had customer deposits of $ 13.2 billion at the end of September, actively courted crypto customers. Silvergate's shares broke up by 84 percent this year, much worse than the decline in the KBW banking index by 23 percent. In his letter "Speculations - and Misory Formations - Lane criticized that are spread by empty sellers and other opportunists who try to capitalize on market uncertainty".

The Silvergate boss also admitted that "it was a few very difficult weeks for the digital-asset industry, since we all resigned ourselves with the obvious abuse of customer assets and other misjudgments from FTX and Alameda Research".

Lane also said that, despite the turbulence in the crypto industry, Silvergate kept a “robust balance and plenty of liquidity”. "While this was a turbulent time in the digital asset industry, our customers' deposits are and were always safely kept."