The Metropolitan Commercial Bank holding company says the company will reduce its cryptocurrency-related offerings this year, according to a statement issued Monday.
The New York-based bank, which has about $6.4 billion in assets, pointed to “recent developments” in the industry, along with a changing regulatory environment as part of its decision to leave the nascent space.
“Today’s announcement of our exit from the cryptocurrency-related asset vertical represents the culmination of a process that began in 2017, when we decided to move away from cryptocurrency and not grow the business,” Mark DeFazio, President and CEO of Metropolitan Commercial Bank. , saying.
The bank does not have any cryptocurrency on its balance sheet, nor does it have any outstanding loans with its cryptocurrency-related clients.
Metropolitan Commercial Bank “expects minimal financial impact” from the move. It has four active cryptocurrency-related clients representing approximately 1.5% of total revenue and 6% of all deposits.
“Cryptocurrency-related customers, assets and deposits have never been a significant part of the Company’s business and have never exposed the Company to significant financial risk,” DeFazio added.
Metropolitan Commercial Bank became one of the first traditional financial institutions to begin serving the nascent space. One of his initiatives included a crypto debit card, which launched in 2018.
“We’re certainly very interested in growing this vertical,” Nick Rosenberg, the financial institution’s chief technology officer, told CoinDesk of the bank’s clientele in 2018. “We’ve learned that it’s a serious industry. There are some very smart people out there. involved There are some very exciting ideas emerging that could really change the way people do business.”
