Signature Bank added $ 6.3 billion in deposits from digital asset customers in the second quarter, giving the New York-based bank $ 18 billion in total assets from those customers, the company revealed in its appeal for second quarter results.

The company also announced that it will offer its first bitcoin-backed loans this month or early next month.

Customer deposits of digital assets accounted for more than half of the $ 11.6 billion increase in total bank deposits in the second quarter. This figure compares with growth of $ 4.4 billion in the first quarter of 2021.

“These are stablecoin reserves, they are over-the-counter and institutional traders, digital asset exchanges and blockchain technology and digital miners,” said Joe DePaolo, CEO of Signature Bank.

Of the $ 6.3 billion in second-quarter deposits from digital asset customers, $ 3.4 billion was made through digital asset exchanges, $ 1.9 billion was stablecoin reserves, $ 600 million was in assets deposited by over-the-counter offices and institutional traders and about $ 300 million “give or take” by blockchain technology and digital miners, DePaolo said.

Signature bank currently has five stablecoin issuers, four of which have their money in interest-free accounts and one of them has their funds in interest-bearing accounts. The bank nearly doubled its non-interest bearing accounts to $ 6.14 billion in the second quarter.
While rival Silvergate Bank on Tuesday announced that it had approved extended lines of credit of up to $ 258.5 million for its bitcoin-backed loan product, Signature will extend its first bitcoin-backed loan in late July or early August, a. DePaolo said.

UPDATE (JULY 20, 9:00 p.m. UTC): Adds clients’ digital asset deposit numbers from the earnings call.