What happened
Shares of Silvergate Capital (SI 11.11%) fell as much as 10.2%, once again, on Monday morning as the crypto industry continues to unearth new risks. This time, it's a U.S. investigation into Binance caught the industry off guard.
Shares recovered slightly late in the day but were still down 5.2% at 2:20 p.m. ET.
So what
Multiple news outlets reported this morning that the U.S. Department of Justice has an ongoing criminal probe into Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange. This is on top of Binance failing to pass what's being called an audit of its reserves, although auditors only had limited access to information.
After the collapse of FTX last month, investors are on high alert regarding the risks that centralized exchanges pose to the crypto industry. Binance has gained a reputation as the go-to exchange for non-U.S. crypto traders but doesn't have a solid balance sheet, even after it hired accounting firm Mazars to perform a proof-of-reserves analysis.
Mazars had to follow "agreed-upon procedures" and said, "[W]e make no representation regarding the appropriateness" of those procedures. This is another red flag for crypto investors.
Now what
Silvergate was a leading lender in crypto and an on-ramp for many institutions into the industry. But the collapse of FTX has caused losses, and investors are worried about a bank run.
Add it all up and the stock continues to fall. I wouldn't be a buyer now. The company needs to prove it can survive this crypto winter before being worth even a small position in my portfolio.
