BlockTower Capital Funds Had Exposure to Silvergate, Signature Bank

Four private funds of crypto asset manager BlockTower Capital used now-shuttered Signature Bank, Silvergate Bank – and in one case, both – as custodians for the assets, according to the most recent regulatory filing required for investment advisers. The funds added up to about $940 million in gross asset value.

On March 8, crypto-friendly Silvergate Bank announced it would voluntarily liquidate its assets and wind down operations after announcing a delay filing its annual report due to questions from its independent auditors and accounting firm over the financial figures. Two days later, venture capital and tech-favored Silicon Valley Bank was shuttered by California regulators because of insolvency concerns. Finishing the trifecta of bank collapses, New York-based Signature Bank – a former crypto-friendly institution that began limiting industry exposure last year – was shut down by state regulators on March 12 in order “to protect depositors.”

According to the Form ADV Filing dated May 11, 2022, the BlockTower Blue Signum SPV fund, which had about $4.6 million in gross asset value at the time of the filing, used Silvergate Bank as its sole custodian. The BlockTower DeFi SPV I fund ($74.6 million in gross assets) also listed only Silvergate, while the BlockTower Gamma Point Master Fund ($89 million) had Signature Bank as the custodian.

BlockTower Capital Partners Master Fund ($770.5 million in gross assets) was the most diversified, listing five custodians: Silvergate, Signature Bank, the trust services of Anchorage Digital and Coinbase, and Celadon Financial Group.

The date on the filing means that BlockTower Capital could have moved to different custodians in the interim. CoinDesk reached out to BlockTower for comment but had not received a response by publication time.

Read more: A Tale of 2 Banks: Why Silvergate and Silicon Valley Bank Collapsed