US bank lays off 40pc of staff as FTX fallout spreads

A US bank catering to cryptocurrency businesses has laid off 40pc of its staff as the fallout from the collapse of trading platform FTX continues.

Silvergate, which mainly caters to cryptocurrency clients, said a rush of withdrawals by customers forced it to sell $5.2bn (£4.4bn) worth of assets to bolster its balance sheet, suffering losses of over $700m in the process.

The fire sale at the end of last year was triggered by customers seeking to withdraw $8.1bn as the collapse of trading platform FTX triggered a “crisis of confidence across the ecosystem”.

Silvergate said around 200 people are losing their jobs.

FTX, a trading platform that was valued at $32bn at the start of last year, filed for bankruptcy in November. Yesterday, it emerged that the former top lawyer for FTX had turned against his former boss, Sam Bankman-fried.

Daniel Friedberg has been co-operating with US prosecutors, a source told Reuters.

Mr Bankman-fried is on $250m bail and faces a fraud trial later this year. He has pleaded not guilty.