Republic First Bank closed by US regulators — crypto community reacts
United States regulators have closed Philadelphia-based Republic First Bank, marking the nation’s first banking failure of 2024.
It has sparked debate among the crypto community amid Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and several altcoins slightly faltering following the news.
“Another bank just collapsed, the Republic First Bank. Yeah… I think I’ll stick to Bitcoin,” CEO of Zesh Marius Martocsan stated in an April 26 post on X.
“Republic First Bank failure is worth a look since bank failures are the best possible narrative we can get for crypto,” pseudonymous crypto trader Pillage Capital claimed in an April 26 post on X.
“How many more need to fail before people start to be their own bank?” crypto commentator Randi Hipper asked her 87,100 X followers on April 26.
After Republic First was seized by the Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities on April 26, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was appointed as its receiver. The agency will take on nearly all deposits and acquire all assets of Republic Bank, according to an April 26 statement published by the FDIC.
Republic First had approximately $6 billion in total assets along with $4 billion in total deposits as of Jan. 31.
Furthermore, the bank’s 32 branches across New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York, will reopen under Fulton Bank’s umbrella by the start of next week at the latest.
In 2023, even rumors of possible banking failures saw slight spikes in Bitcoin’s price shortly after, however, its price has slightly declined following the news.
Over the past hour, Bitcoin is down 1.16%, trading at $62,715 and Ether is down 0.58% trading at $3,095, as per CoinMarketCap data.
Meanwhile, altcoins have seen a slightly larger slump in the same timeframe, with Dogecoin (DOGE) down 2.88% and Solana (SOL) down 1.79%.
The news follows a rough year for the banking industry, with five banking failures recorded in the U.S. in 2023, according to FDIC data.
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First Republic Bank, a separate entity with no affiliation to Republic First, was acquired by JPMorgan in May 2023 after initial recovery efforts failed.
In March 2023, the Federal Reserve announced the closure of Signature Bank, claiming it was to protect the U.S. economy, citing “systemic risk.”
It came only days after Silicon Valley Bank was ordered to shut down. A week prior, Silvergate Bank, another crypto-friendly bank, announced it would close its doors and go into voluntary liquidation.
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