Brendan Francis Blumer, the founder of blockchain firm Block.one, has become the largest shareholder of Californian cryptocurrency bank Silvergate Bank, bringing his ownership to 9.27%, according to a regulatory filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The regulatory document says that Blumer personally purchased 2,934,537 shares (~9.3%) of Class A common stock par value $0.01 per share, while Block.one also purchased 2,363,186 shares (~7.5%) of the bank.
The Vanguard Group is the second shareholder of Silvergate Bank with 2,819,963 shares (8.91%) owned. BlackRock Fund Advisors rounds off the top three shareholders with 1,768,706 (5.59%) of owned shares.
The move comes a few weeks after Silvergate Bank said it wouldn't launch Facebook's failed stablecoin project Diem this year, citing regulatory difficulties. In an interview with Axios, Silvergate Bank CEO, Alan Lane, said the bank wants to be sure that it's on the right track with its tokenized version of the US dollar.
