Crypto hedge fund executive Marco Lim spent Monday racing to open bank accounts in Hong Kong after the sudden collapse of three U.S. lenders, Reuters reported. The hedge fund, MaiCapital, is based in the city and had cash at one of the fallen institutions, Signature Bank. MaiCapital needs alternatives and managing partner Lim was pressing lenders to speed up account opening. “The two biggest crypto friendly banks are gone,” Lim said, referring to Signature and Silvergate Capital Corp., which also had many crypto clients and said Wednesday it would liquidate. “I’ve been through too many crises.” Silvergate, Signature and Silicon Valley Bank were toppled in the past few days amid bank runs, spurring the US to introduce a new backstop to shield deposits. The loss of Silvergate and Signature is particularly grievous for digital assets as the two operated real-time, seven-days-a-week payments networks for the crypto industry, aiding the flow of money to and from the sector. Many crypto firms are now combing for banks outside the US, with lenders in Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates among those in the spotlight. This tilt away from America had already begun due to growing regulatory heat there after the implosion of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX digital-asset exchange.
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