The FDIC reports that as of April 27, Republic First Bank’s thirty-two locations nationwide would reopen under Fulton Bank. The first bank failure in the United States in 2024 occurred when Republic First Bank, located in Philadelphia, was shut down by regulators. With Bitcoin, Ether, and a few other altcoins experiencing minor declines in value after the announcement, it has caused controversy within the cryptocurrency community.
“Republic First Bank, another bank, just failed.” Yes, I believe I’ll continue with Bitcoin, Zesh Marius Martocsan, the company’s CEO, wrote on X on April 26.
The pseudonymous cryptocurrency trader Pillage Capital wrote on April 26 on X, “Republic First Bank failure is worth a look since bank failures are the best possible narrative we can get for cryptocurrency.”
“How many failures are required before individuals begin acting as their own banks?” On April 26, cryptocurrency analyst Randi Hipper questioned her 87,100 X followers.
Republic First was placed into receivership by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) following its seizure by the Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities on April 26. The FDIC said in a statement on April 26 that the agency will assume almost all of Republic Bank’s depositors and assets.
As of January 31, Republic First has $4 billion in total deposits and almost $6 billion in total assets. In addition, on April 27, the bank’s 32 locations in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York will reopen under the auspices of Fulton Bank.
Even reports of potential bank failures in 2023 caused brief increases in the price of Bitcoin. However, since First Republic’s announcement, its price has somewhat decreased.
According to CoinMarketCap data, during the last hour, Ether has dropped 0.58% to trade at $3,095, and Bitcoin has decreased 1.16% to trade at $62,715.
In the same period, cryptocurrencies have experienced a somewhat worse decline, with Dogecoin down 2.88% and Solana’s 1.79% lower. The announcement comes after a challenging year for the banking sector, with five bank failures reported in the United States in 2023, per FDIC data.
After early attempts at recovery failed, JPMorgan purchased First Republic Bank in May 2023. First Republic Bank is a distinct corporation unrelated to Republic First.
Citing “systemic risk,” the Federal Reserve declared in March 2023 that Signature Bank would close in order to safeguard the American economy. It happened just a few days after Silicon Valley Bank’s closure was mandated. Another bank that welcomed cryptocurrencies, Silvergate Bank, had declared a week earlier that it would close and enter voluntary insolvency.