All there is to know about Metropolitan Bank’s exit from the crypto industry

• The Metropolitan Commercial Bank fully exited the crypto industry 
• The firm reportedly began winding down its crypto facing services back in 2017

The Metropolitan Commercial Bank shut down down all of its services related to the cryptocurrencies. The bank was considerably popular in the industry since it was among the few that openly catered to clients from the crypto industry. The notorious crypto market events have been cited as the reason for this decision. 

Crypto exposure never led to financial risk

According to the press release by the Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp, which is the holding company for the bank, the company expects minimal financial impact from the departure of the crypto vertical. 

“This decision follows a careful review by the Board of Directors and management and reflects recent developments in the crypto-asset industry, material changes in the regulatory environment regarding banks’ involvement in crypto-asset related businesses, and a strategic assessment of the business case for MCB’s further involvement at this time,” the press release read. 

Mark R. DeFazio, the President and CEO of Metropolitan Commercial Bank clarified that crypto related clients or assets never exposed the company to material financial risks. The exit process reportedly began back in 2017 when the company decided to pivot away from cryptocurrencies. 

A closer look at the numbers

The Metropolitan Commercial Bank currently has four active institutional crypto related clients. These clients represent approximately 1.5% of total revenues and 6% of the bank’s total deposits. 

The company has clarified that it has no loans outstanding to any of these clients, does not hold crypto-assets on its balance sheet and does not market or sell crypto-assets to its customers. The share price of Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp has gone up 1.53% over the past 24 hours.