Silvergate CEO departs as the San Diego crypto-focused bank shuts down

Silvergate Capital, a La Jolla-based financial institution that grew by largely catering to cryptocurrency traders, announced Tuesday that its CEO Alan Lane has departed as the business winds down operations.

This marks the latest in the liquidation process after the local bank announced in March that it was closing amid mounting losses, customer defections and regulatory pressure.

Lane served as the chief executive of both Silvergate Capital and its subsidiary Silvergate Bank. Under his leadership, Silvergate tailored its business toward providing deposit accounts, fund transfers and other banking infrastructure to the cryptocurrency industry.

The decline of Silvergate was precipitated by the wider downfall of crypto markets and its biggest players as well as mounting regulatory pressures at the end of last year. Silvergate suffered a run on deposits after the collapse of FTX in November. FTX had accounts at Silvergate, as did sister company Alameda Research.

In addition to Lane’s departure, Silvergate Bank’s chief legal officer, John M. Bonino, has also left the company, according to a financial filing submitted to the SEC late Tuesday. Silvergate’s chief financial officer, Antonio Martino, will leave the company effective Sept. 30.

Each of them will receive severance benefits that were offered to Silvergate’s laid-off employees during the bank’s liquidation process, the filing says. In January, following the run on deposits, Silvergate Bank cut its workforce by 40 percent, or 181 people. The bank laid off 260 more people in May, according to the state’s WARN report.

In the absence of a CEO, Kathleen M. Fraher, Silvergate’s chief transition officer, will serve as the organization’s top leader as it continues the liquidation process. Fraher’s LinkedIn profile shows she has served as the bank’s chief risk officer for 17 years. Following Martino’s departure as CFO, Silvergate’s chief accounting officer, Andrew Surry, will be the company’s principal financial officer.