(SI) 2022 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Hello, and welcome to today's Silvergate Capital Corporation Third Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Jordan, and I'll be coordinating your call today.

您好，歡迎參加今天的 Silvergate Capital Corporation 2022 年第三季度收益電話會議。我的名字是喬丹，今天我會協調你的電話。

(Operator instruction] I'm now going to hand over to Hunter Stenbeck to begin. Hunter, please go ahead.

（操作員指令）我現在要交給亨特·斯滕貝克開始。亨特，請繼續。

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate your participation in the Silvergate Capital Corporation Third Quarter 2022 Earnings Call. With me here today are Alan Lane, our Chief Executive Officer; Tony Martino, our Chief Financial Officer; and Ben Reynolds, our Chief Strategy Officer.

謝謝接線員，大家早上好。感謝您參加 Silvergate Capital Corporation 2022 年第三季度財報電話會議。今天和我在一起的還有我們的首席執行官艾倫·萊恩；我們的首席財務官 Tony Martino；和我們的首席戰略官 Ben Reynolds。

As a reminder, a telephonic replay of this call will be available through 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on November 1, 2022. Access to the replay is also available on the Investor Relations section of our website. Additionally, a slide deck to complement today's discussion is available on the IR section of our website.

提醒一下，此電話的電話重播將持續到晚上 11:59。東部時間 2022 年 11 月 1 日。也可以在我們網站的投資者關係部分訪問重播。此外，我們網站的 IR 部分還提供了一個幻燈片來補充今天的討論。

Before we begin, let me remind everyone that this call may contain certain statements that constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These include remarks about management's future expectations, beliefs, estimates, plans and prospects. Such statements are subject to a variety of risks, uncertainties and other factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated or implied by such statements. Such risks and other factors are set forth in our periodic and current reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We do not undertake any duty to update such forward-looking statements.

在我們開始之前，讓我提醒大家，本次電話會議可能包含構成 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》含義內的前瞻性陳述的某些陳述。其中包括有關管理層未來預期、信念、估計、計劃和前景的評論。此類聲明受各種風險、不確定性和其他因素的影響，包括 COVID-19 大流行，可能導致實際結果與此類聲明所表明或暗示的結果存在重大差異。這些風險和其他因素在我們提交給證券交易委員會的定期報告和當前報告中列出。我們不承擔更新此類前瞻性陳述的任何義務。

Now I would like to turn the call over to Alan.

現在我想把電話轉給艾倫。

Thank you, Hunter, and good morning, everyone. Silvergate reported strong third quarter results even as the broader digital asset ecosystem continued to experience challenges. Against this backdrop, Silvergate delivered record net income available to common shareholders of $40.6 million, an increase of 13% compared to the second quarter, driven by our diverse revenue streams and progress on our strategic initiatives. Before I dive into our results, I want to provide some color on the broader digital asset ecosystem.

謝謝你，亨特，大家早上好。 Silvergate 報告了強勁的第三季度業績，儘管更廣泛的數字資產生態系統繼續面臨挑戰。在此背景下，Silvergate 為普通股股東帶來創紀錄的淨收入 4060 萬美元，與第二季度相比增長 13%，這得益於我們多樣化的收入來源和戰略舉措的進展。在深入研究我們的結果之前，我想為更廣泛的數字資產生態系統提供一些色彩。

In the third quarter, Bitcoin hit its lowest price and market cap of the year. We have not seen these levels since the fourth quarter of 2020. At that point in time, Silvergate had fewer than 1,000 digital asset customers, $2.6 billion of average digital asset deposits and only $59 billion of SEN volumes. By contrast, this quarter, we have more than 1,600 customers, average deposits of $12 billion and SEN volumes of $113 billion, which is a testament to the strength of our platform over the last 2 years and the dedication of our team.

在第三季度，比特幣達到了今年的最低價格和市值。自 2020 年第四季度以來，我們還沒有看到這些水平。當時，Silvergate 的數字資產客戶不到 1,000 家，平均數字資產存款為 26 億美元，SEN 交易量僅為 590 億美元。相比之下，本季度，我們擁有 1,600 多家客戶，平均存款 120 億美元，SEN 交易量 1130 億美元，這證明了我們平台在過去 2 年的實力和我們團隊的奉獻精神。

As we've done in the past, we worked with Coin Metrics again quarter to better understand how activity on the SEN correlated with the broader digital asset industry. According to their data, in the third quarter, both Bitcoin and Ethereum dollar trading volumes increased compared to the second quarter. The SEN saw lower daily trading volumes this quarter with transfer volume of $113 billion, a decrease of 41% on a sequential basis. Volumes were mainly impacted by trends in the broader industry, specifically within stablecoins, as volumes from stablecoin issuers, such as USDC, saw a sizable drop in market cap during the quarter. It's important to note that the correlation between the SEN and the industry won't always be linear, given the different use cases of the SEN. We remain confident in the power of the platform and the opportunities for expansion within the network.

正如我們過去所做的那樣，我們再次與 Coin Metrics 合作，以更好地了解 SEN 上的活動如何與更廣泛的數字資產行業相關聯。根據他們的數據，在第三季度，比特幣和以太坊美元的交易量都比第二季度有所增加。本季度 SEN 的每日交易量有所下降，轉賬量為 1130 億美元，環比下降 41%。交易量主要受到更廣泛行業趨勢的影響，特別是在穩定幣領域，因為穩定幣發行人（如 USDC）的交易量在本季度出現了大幅下降。需要注意的是，鑑於 SEN 的不同用例，SEN 與行業之間的相關性並不總是線性的。我們對平台的力量和網絡內的擴展機會仍然充滿信心。

Now moving to our key metrics. Average deposits from digital asset customers declined to $12 billion in the third quarter compared to $13.8 billion last quarter. Importantly, we saw the range of deposits during the quarter narrow to a high of $14 billion and a low of $11.1 billion, signaling lower volatility in our deposit base. The number of digital asset customers continue to increase, reaching 1,677 in the third quarter, an increase of over 350 customers since the same quarter last year. We added over 90 clients on a sequential basis as we continue our focus on adding high-quality clients that bring the most value to our platform. Our pipeline of potential new digital asset customers remains robust with over 300 prospects.

現在轉到我們的關鍵指標。第三季度數字資產客戶的平均存款從上一季度的 138 億美元降至 120 億美元。重要的是，我們看到本季度存款範圍縮小至 140 億美元的高位和 111 億美元的低位，這表明我們的存款基礎波動性較低。數字資產客戶數量持續增加，第三季度達到1677家，比去年同期增加了350多家。隨著我們繼續專注於增加為我們的平台帶來最大價值的高質量客戶，我們連續增加了 90 多個客戶。我們的潛在新數字資產客戶渠道仍然強勁，擁有 300 多個潛在客戶。

Turning to SEN Leverage, our Bitcoin collateralized lending product. We saw continued strong demand for the product with total approved commitments growing 9% to $1.5 billion compared to $1.4 billion at the end of the second quarter. In addition, we experienced a range of outstanding SEN Leverage balances during the quarter between $268 million and $322 million, with an average outstanding balance of $308 million. All of our SEN Leverage loans continued to perform as expected with no losses or forced liquidations. As a reminder, by design, these loans are overcollateralized and our customers have the ability to draw, pay down or pledge additional Bitcoin as collateral to comply with the terms of their loan agreement 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

轉向 SEN Leverage，我們的比特幣抵押貸款產品。我們看到對該產品的持續強勁需求，批准的承諾總額從第二季度末的 14 億美元增長 9% 至 15 億美元。此外，我們在本季度經歷了一系列未償 SEN 槓桿餘額，介於 2.68 億美元至 3.22 億美元之間，平均未償餘額為 3.08 億美元。我們所有的 SEN Leverage 貸款繼續按預期表現，沒有損失或強制清算。提醒一下，這些貸款在設計上是超額抵押的，我們的客戶可以每週 7 天、每天 24 小時提取、償還或抵押額外的比特幣作為抵押品，以遵守其貸款協議的條款。

Finally, I would like to provide an update on the progress we are making towards our strategic initiatives. We continue to balance our culture of innovation with our prudent risk-based approach to launching new products and are actively engaged with regulators and policymakers in anticipation of launching a regulatory compliant tokenized dollar on the blockchain. Unfortunately, we no longer expect that to happen this year. That said, we remain committed to bringing blockchain-based payments to our customers in a regulatory compliant manner, and we'll continue to provide additional updates on this initiative and the other exciting opportunities being explored by Silvergate in the coming quarters.

最後，我想介紹一下我們在戰略舉措方面取得的進展。我們將繼續平衡我們的創新文化與基於風險的審慎方法來推出新產品，並積極與監管機構和政策制定者合作，以期在區塊鏈上推出符合監管要求的代幣化美元。不幸的是，我們不再期望今年會發生這種情況。也就是說，我們仍然致力於以符合監管的方式為我們的客戶提供基於區塊鏈的支付，我們將繼續提供有關此計劃的更多更新以及 Silvergate 在未來幾個季度探索的其他令人興奮的機會。

While we are taking a balanced approach, as you can see on Slide 4, the opportunity ahead remains massive. We believe Silvergate is one of the best position in the industry to both power the current $1 trillion digital asset market and disrupt the $67 trillion global commerce market with a blockchain-based payment solution. As the digital asset ecosystem continues to grow and evolve, we will continue to take a customer-first approach to product innovation.

正如您在幻燈片 4 中看到的那樣，雖然我們正在採取平衡的方法，但未來的機會仍然巨大。我們相信 Silvergate 是業內最佳位置之一，既可以為當前 1 萬億美元的數字資產市場提供動力，又可以通過基於區塊鏈的支付解決方案擾亂 67 萬億美元的全球商業市場。隨著數字資產生態系統的不斷發展和演變，我們將繼續以客戶至上的方式進行產品創新。

In line with this approach, I'm pleased to share that in the fourth quarter, we will introduce updates to our customer support model to provide our customers with support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We already offer real-time payments with 24/7 availability through SEN and Euro SEN, and we have maximized payment windows to give our customers increased opportunities to execute their banking activities when it's convenient for them. Enhancing our existing customer support model will be incredibly meaningful for our customers who work in digital assets, which is an industry that operates without time constraints or geographic barriers.

根據這種方法，我很高興在第四季度與大家分享，我們將更新我們的客戶支持模型，以便每週 7 天、每天 24 小時為我們的客戶提供支持。我們已經通過 SEN 和 Euro SEN 提供了 24/7 全天候的實時支付，並且我們最大化了支付窗口，讓我們的客戶有更多機會在他們方便的時候執行他們的銀行活動。增強我們現有的客戶支持模式對於我們從事數字資產工作的客戶來說將非常有意義，這是一個不受時間限製或地理障礙的行業。

Finally, earlier this year, we announced the launch of the Euro SEN, which enables customers to transfer euros in near real time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This quarter, we gained momentum on this platform with the rise in ECB rates, and in turn, customers held more euro deposits. This technology is just one example of our ability to provide product that meet our customers' needs. I am proud of the progress we made this quarter against our strategy and look forward to what's to come as we close out 2022.

最後，今年早些時候，我們宣布推出 Euro SEN，讓客戶可以每週 7 天、每天 24 小時近乎實時地轉移歐元。本季度，隨著歐洲央行利率的上升，我們在這個平台上獲得了動力，反過來，客戶持有更多的歐元存款。這項技術只是我們提供滿足客戶需求的產品的能力的一個例子。我為我們本季度根據我們的戰略取得的進展感到自豪，並期待在我們結束 2022 年時會發生什麼。

I'll now turn it over to Tony to review our financial results in more detail before we take your questions. Tony?

在我們回答您的問題之前，我現在將把它交給托尼來更詳細地審查我們的財務業績。托尼?

Thank you, Alan, and good morning, everyone. Starting on Slide 5 with our key financial results. Against a challenging backdrop in the overall digital asset industry, Silvergate reported another quarter of record net income available to common shareholders, reaching $40.6 million or $1.28 per diluted common share compared to $35.9 million or $1.13 per diluted share in the second quarter and up from $23.5 million or $0.88 per diluted share in the third quarter of 2021. Revenue of $89.3 million was up 12% compared to the second quarter and up 73% compared to the same quarter a year ago, driven by higher net interest income, which I will discuss in more detail later on. We maintained strong capital ratios during the quarter with our Tier 1 leverage ratio at 10.71%, an increase of 7% compared to last quarter, and 23% from the third quarter of 2021.

謝謝你，艾倫，大家早上好。從幻燈片 5 開始，介紹我們的主要財務業績。在整個數字資產行業充滿挑戰的背景下，Silvergate 公佈了另一個季度可供普通股股東獲得的創紀錄淨收入，達到 4060 萬美元或稀釋後普通股每股 1.28 美元，而第二季度為 3590 萬美元或每股稀釋後每股 1.13 美元，高於 23.5 美元2021 年第三季度每股攤薄收益 0.88 萬美元或 0.88 美元。收入 8,930 萬美元，與第二季度相比增長 12%，與去年同期相比增長 73%，這主要是由於淨利息收入增加，我將對此進行討論稍後更詳細。本季度我們保持強勁的資本充足率，一級槓桿率為 10.71%，比上一季度增長 7%，比 2021 年第三季度增長 23%。

Next, on Slide 6, average digital asset customer deposits were $12 billion in the quarter, down 13% compared to last quarter. As Alan mentioned, we saw lower volatility in our deposit base as the range of deposits during the quarter narrowed within a high of $14 billion to a low of $11.1 billion. Our weighted average cost of deposits for the quarter increased slightly to 16 basis points compared to essentially 0 last quarter as we utilize short-term brokered certificates of deposit as part of our liability management strategy. The annualized cost of digital asset deposits remained at 0, reflecting our digital asset deposit gathering strategy.

接下來，在幻燈片 6 上，本季度數字資產客戶的平均存款為 120 億美元，與上一季度相比下降了 13%。正如艾倫所說，我們看到存款基礎的波動性較低，因為本季度存款範圍從 140 億美元的高位收窄至 111 億美元的低位。我們本季度的加權平均存款成本略微上升至 16 個基點，而上一季度基本為 0，因為我們利用短期經紀存款證明作為我們負債管理策略的一部分。數字資產存款的年化成本保持在0，反映了我們的數字資產存款策略。

Turning to Slide 7. Net interest income was $80.9 million in the third quarter, an increase of $10.3 million compared to the second quarter and $43.2 million compared to the third quarter of 2021 as we continue to benefit from our asset-sensitive position within a rising interest rate environment. Net interest margin was 2.31% for the third quarter compared to 1.96% in the second quarter and 1.26% in the third quarter of last year. The increase in NIM from the prior quarter was partially mitigated by the impact of derivatives as we increase our focus on managing down rate interest rate sensitivity.

轉到幻燈片 7。第三季度的淨利息收入為 8090 萬美元，與第二季度相比增加了 1030 萬美元，與 2021 年第三季度相比增加了 4320 萬美元，因為我們繼續受益於我們的資產敏感頭寸。利率環境。第三季度淨息差為2.31%，而第二季度為1.96%，去年第三季度為1.26%。衍生品的影響部分緩解了上一季度的淨息差增長，因為我們更加關注管理降息敏感性。

Our securities portfolio totaled $11.4 billion with a yield of 2.21% for the third quarter, down slightly from a balance of $11.8 billion at the end of the second quarter, with a corresponding yield of 1.66%. Year-over-year, securities increased $4.2 billion. As part of our risk management strategy, we hedged approximately 40% of our interest-earning assets to reduce interest rate risk.

我們的證券組合總額為 114 億美元，第三季度收益率為 2.21%，略低於第二季度末的 118 億美元餘額，相應收益率為 1.66%。與去年同期相比，證券增加了 42 億美元。作為我們風險管理策略的一部分，我們對沖了大約 40% 的生息資產以降低利率風險。

Moving on to the loan portfolio. On a year-over-year basis, total loans were down $235.8 million or 14% as we continue to divest our 1-to-4 family, multifamily, and commercial real estate loan portfolios. During the quarter, we sold $3.6 million of 1-to-4 family real estate loans and transferred an additional $33.9 million of 1-to-4 family real estate loans to held for sale. As a result, the allowance for loan losses decreased to $3.2 million from $4.4 million in the second quarter.

繼續貸款組合。隨著我們繼續剝離我們的 1 對 4 家庭、多戶家庭和商業房地產貸款組合，總貸款同比下降 2.358 億美元或 14%。在本季度，我們出售了 360 萬美元的 1 對 4 家庭房地產貸款，並將另外 3390 萬美元的 1 對 4 家庭房地產貸款轉為持有待售。因此，貸款損失準備金從第二季度的 440 萬美元降至 320 萬美元。

As we discussed last quarter, we are currently operating in a rising rate environment, and Silvergate continues to be well-positioned for further rate hikes. As of September 30, 2022, approximately 63% of our interest-earning assets were adjustable rate. To give you a sense of our current interest rate sensitivity, assuming a static balance sheet and a positive 25 basis point interest rate shock, net interest income is estimated to increase approximately $16 million over a 12-month period.

正如我們上個季度所討論的，我們目前在利率上升的環境中運營，Silvergate 繼續為進一步加息做好準備。截至 2022 年 9 月 30 日，我們約 63% 的生息資產為可調整利率。為了讓您了解我們當前的利率敏感性，假設資產負債表為靜態，利率為 25 個基點，淨利息收入預計在 12 個月內增加約 1600 萬美元。

Turning to Slide 8. Noninterest income for the third quarter of 2022 was $8.5 million, which decreased $0.8 million compared to the prior quarter and $5.6 million compared to the third quarter of 2021. The decline in non-interest income on a year-over-year basis was primarily due to the gain on sales of securities recognized in the prior year.

轉到幻燈片 8。2022 年第三季度的非利息收入為 850 萬美元，與上一季度相比減少了 80 萬美元，與 2021 年第三季度相比減少了 560 萬美元。非利息收入同比下降主要是由於上一年度確認的證券銷售收益。

Slide 9 shows noninterest expense for the quarter of $33.2 million, up $2.6 million from the prior quarter and $10.8 million compared to the same quarter last year. The increase in non-interest expense compared to the second quarter and prior year is primarily due to increases in ongoing investments related to our strategic growth investments. We will continue to make strategic investments during the fourth quarter to support our growth and initiatives. We continue to expect full year 2022 operating expenses to be in the range of approximately $130 million to $140 million, excluding any intangible amortization that we may come in toward the low end of this range. Overall, I'm proud of our results this quarter and remain confident in our trajectory through the rest of 2022.

幻燈片 9 顯示該季度的非利息支出為 3320 萬美元，比上一季度增加 260 萬美元，比去年同期增加 1080 萬美元。與第二季度和去年同期相比，非利息費用的增加主要是由於與我們的戰略增長投資相關的持續投資增加。我們將在第四季度繼續進行戰略投資，以支持我們的增長和舉措。我們繼續預計 2022 年全年運營費用將在約 1.3 億美元至 1.4 億美元之間，不包括我們可能進入該範圍低端的任何無形攤銷。總體而言，我為我們本季度的業績感到自豪，並對我們在 2022 年剩餘時間內的發展軌跡充滿信心。

With that, I would like to ask the operator to open up the line for any questions. Operator?

有了這個，我想請接線員打開線路以解決任何問題。操作員？

[Operator Instruction] Our first question comes from Manan Gosalia of Morgan Stanley.

【操作員指導】我們的第一個問題來自摩根士丹利的Manan Gosalia。

Just on the SEN platform and the volumes there. I know the volumes are down 40% Q-o-Q. You know I hear you that stablecoin was a big driver of that. I guess the question is, is that a function of the greater stability in Bitcoin prices in the past quarter relative to 2Q? And do you think that if we see a rebound in volatility in Bitcoin and other crypto prices, do you think we should expect a similar rebound in SEN transfer volumes? Or I just wanted to get your view, is it a function of liquidity becoming more scarce, interest rates going up? Do you think we're at a new normal for SEN transfer volumes?

就在 SEN 平台和那裡的捲上。我知道成交量環比下降了 40%。你知道我聽說穩定幣是其中的一個重要驅動力。我想問題是，這是上一季度比特幣價格相對於第二季度更加穩定的函數嗎？你認為如果我們看到比特幣和其他加密貨幣價格的波動性反彈，你認為我們應該期待 SEN 轉賬量出現類似的反彈嗎？或者我只是想听聽你的看法，這是流動性變得更加稀缺、利率上升的函數嗎？您是否認為我們正處於 SEN 傳輸量的新常態？

Yes. So I'm going to ask Ben to comment a little bit more in just a minute on kind of some of the broader things that drive SEN volume. But as we've shared in the past, the power of the SEN is really best demonstrated when there's a lot of volume and volatility in the price of Bitcoin and the other digital assets. And we certainly saw that in the second quarter, when there was a lot of volatility with some of the leverage unwind in the ecosystem. And then to your point, as volumes across the broader ecosystem calm down a little bit and we've seen the volatility, for instance, in the price of Bitcoin has come way, way down. And so that just provides less trading opportunities for a lot of our customers who use the SEN. But we should also point out, and this is where I'll ask Ben to comment just on the fact that it's really difficult to pinpoint exactly where the volumes come from and to look for correlations with the broader ecosystem because there are so many different drivers. Ben, do you want to add any comments to that?

是的。因此，我將請 Ben 在短短一分鐘內就推動 SEN 交易量的一些更廣泛的事情發表更多評論。但正如我們過去所分享的，當比特幣和其他數字資產的價格存在大量交易量和波動性時，SEN 的力量才能得到最好的體現。我們當然在第二季度看到了這一點，當時生態系統中的一些槓桿解除了很多波動。然後到你的觀點，隨著整個生態系統的交易量稍微平靜下來，我們已經看到波動性，例如，比特幣的價格已經大幅下降。因此，這只會為我們使用 SEN 的許多客戶提供更少的交易機會。但我們也應該指出，這就是我要請 Ben 評論的一個事實，即很難準確地確定交易量的來源並尋找與更廣泛的生態系統的相關性，因為有很多不同的驅動因素. Ben，你想對此添加任何評論嗎？

Yes. Thanks, Alan, and thanks for the question. That's exactly right. I mean when -- previously, we had reported using Coin Metrics data and specifically, we're using the trusted exchange volume data. And when you look at that trusted exchange volume data, I think there's about 15 exchanges or so that make up that data set. And as you know, we have over 1,600 customers at Silvergate in the digital asset ecosystem. We first introduced that metric back, kind of in the middle of a bull market and now we're in a bear market. And so we saw that sort of that lack of correlation in those 2 numbers this quarter. That said, there were several other reports out there about volumes being flat quarter from one quarter to the next. But I think the initial part of your question exactly nailed it, which is we haven't seen price volatility this quarter and at this level for 2 years now. And so that is probably the most significant driver. But back to the point, there are multiple uses for the SEN, including stablecoins, which were down pretty dramatically this quarter. So overall, not that surprising given the macro backdrop.

是的。謝謝，艾倫，謝謝你的問題。這是完全正確的。我的意思是——以前，我們曾使用 Coin Metrics 數據進行報告，具體來說，我們使用的是受信任的交易量數據。當您查看受信任的交易所量數據時，我認為大約有 15 家交易所構成了該數據集。如您所知，我們在 Silvergate 的數字資產生態系統中擁有 1,600 多名客戶。我們首先在牛市中間引入了該指標，現在我們處於熊市中。因此，我們在本季度看到這兩個數字缺乏相關性。也就是說，還有其他幾份報告稱，從一個季度到下一個季度，交易量持平。但我認為你的問題的最初部分完全正確，即我們本季度沒有看到價格波動，並且已經有兩年時間處於這個水平。所以這可能是最重要的驅動因素。但回到正題，SEN 有多種用途，包括穩定幣，本季度大幅下跌。所以總的來說，考慮到宏觀背景，這並不奇怪。

And then maybe as a follow-up, can you talk a little bit about how you're thinking about the balance sheet, especially as we go into 2023. You brought on some brokered CDs and FHLB funding during this quarter. Just wanted to get a sense of are you managing to a specific balance sheet size or to a cash level? And I guess the question is, why not let some of the shorter data securities runoff to fund some of the deposit clients?

然後作為後續行動，您能否談談您對資產負債表的看法，尤其是在我們進入 2023 年時。您在本季度引入了一些經紀 CD 和 FHLB 資金。只是想了解您是否在管理特定的資產負債表規模或現金水平？我想問題是，為什麼不讓一些較短的數據證券徑流為一些存款客戶提供資金？

It's a great question. Yes, I'm sorry, go ahead, Tony. I was just going to kick it to you.

這是一個很好的問題。是的，對不起，繼續，托尼。我只是想把它踢給你。

Thanks, Alan. Sorry to jump in. Thanks for the question, Manan. Yes, so the strategy on the balance sheet side hasn't really changed and not expected to change. The composition of the balance sheet between the end of the third quarter and the end of the second quarter is relatively consistent. And as you indicated, we did use some short-term wholesale funding to supplement and maintain a relatively stable level on the asset side. But you would have seen there has been some amortization on the securities portfolio. But by and large, we're happy with the performance of our investment portfolio. And so we've kept stability on that portfolio during the quarter.

謝謝，艾倫。很抱歉加入。謝謝你的問題，馬南。是的，因此資產負債表方面的策略並沒有真正改變，也沒有預期會改變。三季度末和二季度末的資產負債表構成比較一致。正如您所說，我們確實使用了一些短期批發資金來補充和維持資產方面的相對穩定水平。但是你會看到證券投資組合有一些攤銷。但總的來說，我們對我們投資組合的表現感到滿意。因此，我們在本季度保持了該投資組合的穩定性。

Our next question comes from Steven Alexopoulos of JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Steven Alexopoulos。

I want to start, in terms of delaying the rollout of a stablecoin this year, is this tied to a regulatory hurdle? Is it a technology hurdle? Can you give more color there? And is there an updated time line?

我想開始，就今年推遲推出穩定幣而言，這是否與監管障礙有關？是技術障礙嗎？你能給那裡更多的顏色嗎？是否有更新的時間表？

So first and foremost, I'll say that it's certainly not a technology issue. The technology that we acquired earlier this year was ready to go when we acquired it. And so it really is, as I said in some of my prepared remarks, it's working with the regulators and with policymakers and just making sure that we've got this right. We still feel very strongly that we are in the best position of any other bank out there to launch a regulatory compliant, safe and sound, tokenized dollar on the blockchain. And we're not in a position at this point to provide an update on the time line. And we're certainly disappointed that it looks like we're going to miss our goal of launching it this year. But you shouldn't read anything more into that in terms of -- I mean, we continue to build the operational muscle internally, the regulatory compliance muscle, and just working really closely with the regulators to make sure that when we launch something, that we don't hit any speed bumps along the way.

所以首先，我要說這肯定不是技術問題。我們今年早些時候獲得的技術在我們獲得時已經準備就緒。確實如此，正如我在一些準備好的評論中所說，它正在與監管機構和政策制定者合作，並確保我們做對了。我們仍然非常強烈地認為，我們在任何其他銀行中處於最佳位置，可以在區塊鏈上推出符合監管、安全可靠的代幣化美元。我們目前無法提供有關時間線的更新。我們當然很失望，看起來我們將錯過今年推出它的目標。但是你不應該在這方面讀更多的東西——我的意思是，我們繼續在內部建立運營力量，監管合規力量，只是與監管機構密切合作，以確保當我們推出某些東西時，我們一路上沒有遇到任何減速帶。

In terms of a follow-up, so if we look at the digital asset deposits of $12 billion average, could you give us a sense how much of that is related to stablecoin volumes at this point? And do you see balances there stabilizing in this $11 billion to $14 billion range? Or is there still more downside?

就後續行動而言，如果我們看一下平均 120 億美元的數字資產存款，你能告訴我們目前這與穩定幣交易量有多大關係嗎？您是否看到那裡的餘額穩定在這 110 億至 140 億美元的範圍內？還是還有更多的缺點？

Yes. I'll take the second part of the question and then kick it to Ben for the stablecoin portion. But in terms of do we expect to see stability going forward? I mean the one thing we've learned, having banked this ecosystem for almost 9 years now, is that that's one of the reasons, Steve, that we don't provide guidance, because it's just really difficult to predict the future. What I will say, though, and I've made this comment in the past few months, that the drawdown in deposits, given the broader cryptocurrency bear market, combined with the macro backdrop, the drop in deposits is not surprising. And in fact, if you go back and look at the last time we experienced the beginning of a bear market, which was in 2018, we saw very similar activity on the deposit side with a drop from the high to a drop of about 12%, 13% going from kind of the peak in the first quarter of 2018 to the second quarter of 2018. And then things kind of stabilized. And I'm not predicting that it's going to remain stable now. I'm just kind of pointing out what we experienced the last time we went into a bear market. But importantly, back then, we continue to add customers. We were just starting to drive SEN adoption. And we're doing the exact same thing now. As we pointed out, we've added over 90 customers in the third quarter of this year, and our pipeline remains every bit as strong as it has been all year. And so what we hope to see is, as you mentioned, stability in the deposits while adding additional customers, so that we continue to prepare for the next kind of turnaround in the market. But let me ask Ben to comment on the stablecoins.

是的。我將回答問題的第二部分，然後將其踢給 Ben 以獲得穩定幣部分。但就我們是否期望看到未來的穩定性而言？我的意思是，我們在這個生態系統中積累了近 9 年的經驗，這就是我們不提供指導的原因之一，因為很難預測未來。不過，我要說的是，我在過去幾個月裡發表過這樣的評論，鑑於更廣泛的加密貨幣熊市，再加上宏觀背景，存款的下降並不令人意外。事實上，如果你回過頭來看看我們上一次經歷熊市的開始是在 2018 年，我們看到存款方面的活動非常相似，從高點跌至約 12% 的跌幅，從 2018 年第一季度的峰值到 2018 年第二季度的峰值有 13%。然後情況趨於穩定。而且我並不預測它現在會保持穩定。我只是想指出我們上次進入熊市時的經歷。但重要的是，當時，我們繼續增加客戶。我們剛剛開始推動 SEN 的採用。我們現在正在做同樣的事情。正如我們所指出的，我們在今年第三季度增加了 90 多個客戶，我們的管道仍然與全年一樣強勁。因此，正如您所提到的，我們希望看到的是存款的穩定性，同時增加更多的客戶，以便我們繼續為市場的下一次轉機做準備。但是讓我請 Ben 對穩定幣發表評論。

Yes. Thanks, Alan. So I think in the quarter between Q2 and Q3, we saw the total market value of USDC decline from $55 billion to $47 billion, which is about a decrease of 15%. Silvergate average deposits were down about 13% or so. And so that's meaningful just from a directional standpoint. Recall that Silvergate is the transactional bank for the regulated stablecoin issuers that are out there, so that when new stablecoins are minted or burned, that activity often happens over the SEN network because it's 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in real time. And so nothing has really changed for us in terms of being the transactional bank for those platforms. And we've always encouraged our customers to take their sort of excess deposits, if you will, or the deposits that they don't need for issuance and redemption to other banks that do pay interest. And we really haven't seen anything change in that realm over the quarter. But we do think that the decrease in overall market cap is just maybe a validation of sort of the broader macro trend and also reflective of what we're seeing from our customers. But that's how we think about that one.

是的。謝謝，艾倫。所以我認為在 Q2 和 Q3 之間的這個季度，我們看到 USDC 的總市值從 550 億美元下降到 470 億美元，降幅約為 15%。 Silvergate 的平均存款下降了約 13% 左右。因此，僅從方向的角度來看，這很有意義。回想一下，Silvergate 是受監管的穩定幣發行人的交易銀行，因此當新的穩定幣被鑄造或燒毀時，該活動通常會在 SEN 網絡上發生，因為它每週 7 天、每天 24 小時實時進行。因此，作為這些平台的交易銀行，我們並沒有真正改變。我們一直鼓勵我們的客戶把他們的超額存款，如果你願意的話，或者他們不需要的存款發行和贖回到其他支付利息的銀行。而且我們在本季度確實沒有看到該領域的任何變化。但我們確實認為，整體市值的下降可能只是對更廣泛的宏觀趨勢的一種驗證，也反映了我們從客戶那裡看到的情況。但這就是我們對那個的看法。

Our next question comes from Dave Rochester of Compass Point.

我們的下一個問題來自 Compass Point 的 Dave Rochester。

Just wanted to ask a quick one on the hedging. Can you just talk about what you've added this quarter and the terms on that, some of that forward starting at all? I know you've got some info in the Q, but just trying to figure out what's new and then what's the trajectory or the plan on that hedging going forward?

只是想快速問一個關於對沖的問題。您能否談談您在本季度添加的內容以及相關條款，其中一些是從根本上開始的？我知道你在 Q 中有一些信息，但只是想弄清楚什麼是新的，然後對沖的軌跡或計劃是什麼？

I'm going to let Tony take this one, Dave. I appreciate the question. I'll just say upfront that as you pointed out with the second quarter Q, there will be additional detail in the third quarter Q and when that comes out. So not sure how much more we can say at this point. But Tony, do you have anything you'd like to add to that?

我要讓托尼拿走這個，戴夫。我很欣賞這個問題。我只想說，正如您在第二季度 Q 中指出的那樣，第三季度 Q 以及何時發布會有更多細節。所以不知道在這一點上我們還能說多少。但是托尼，你有什麼要補充的嗎？

Yes. So Dave, just in response to your question, the hedging kind of takes 2 flavors. But part of it is hedging for rates down. And then part of it is some hedging related to the fair value of some of the fixed rate portfolio. So as we provided in the earnings deck, the aggregate hedges total about 40% of interest earning assets. It's made up of a combination of those 2 flavors. And the bulk of those hedges were put on during the second quarter. So our asset sensitivity has remained relatively consistent between the end of the second quarter and the end of the third quarter. And as Alan said, we'll provide more details in the Q.

是的。所以戴夫，只是為了回答你的問題，對沖有兩種口味。但其中一部分是對沖利率下降。還有一部分是一些與一些固定利率投資組合的公允價值相關的套期保值。因此，正如我們在收益表中提供的那樣，對沖總額約占生息資產的 40%。它由這兩種口味的組合組成。大部分對沖是在第二季度進行的。因此，我們的資產敏感性在第二季度末和第三季度末之間保持相對一致。正如艾倫所說，我們將在 Q 中提供更多細節。

And any thoughts on the go forward? Are you good for now? Are you thinking about layering more in over the next couple of quarters? How are you thinking about that? And where does it stop, when you hit neutral, or will you remain asset-sensitive at the end of it?

對前進有什麼想法嗎？你現在好嗎？您是否正在考慮在接下來的幾個季度中增加更多層次？你是怎麼想的？當你達到中性時，它會在哪裡停止，或者你會在它結束時保持對資產敏感？

Yes. I think the current -- we're observing like everyone else, pretty volatile macro environment. So we're going to -- nothing to update at this time, but we're continuing to evaluate and monitor the macro environment and our posture on the balance sheet.

是的。我認為當前 - 我們正在像其他人一樣觀察非常不穩定的宏觀環境。因此，我們將 - 目前沒有任何更新，但我們將繼續評估和監控宏觀環境以及我們在資產負債表上的狀況。

Our next question comes from Joseph Vafi of Canaccord.

我們的下一個問題來自 Canaccord 的 Joseph Vafi。

Just a couple for me. Maybe we could circle back on the stablecoin initiative just a little bit more. I mean, there clearly are other, at least decently regulated stablecoins that are out in the market today. I know you're really focused on something for commerce. And so if you could kind of maybe provide a little more color here on perhaps some of that regulatory and policy work you're doing? Is it specific to e-commerce-related activity with the stablecoin, or is it just kind of more full regulatory compliance? Perhaps those 2 are the same thing? And then maybe I'll have a follow-up after that.

對我來說只是一對。也許我們可以再回到穩定幣計劃上一點點。我的意思是，今天市場上顯然還有其他至少受到良好監管的穩定幣。我知道你真的專注於商業。因此，如果您可以在這里為您正在做的一些監管和政策工作提供更多色彩？它是特定於與穩定幣的電子商務相關活動，還是只是一種更全面的監管合規？也許這兩個是同一件事？然後也許我會在那之後進行跟進。

I'm going to ask Ben to jump in here and talk a little bit about where we are in the stablecoin and then I may come in with some further comments. But Ben, do you want to kick us off here?

我要請 Ben 來這裡談談我們在穩定幣中的位置，然後我可能會提出一些進一步的評論。但是本，你想把我們踢到這裡嗎？

Yes. So I think that what's become apparent is the current -- when you look at the current usage of stablecoins today and the current market cap, it's a -- let's call it, $150 billion in round numbers. And when you -- and they're used primarily for digital currency trading use cases for folks that want to take risk off and get value on to exchanges that don't have fiat rails. And I think what's become clear to regulators and policymakers is that using the technology for payments is a massive opportunity at a massive scale that really dwarfs the $150 billion that's available today. And so the nature of these conversations are really around what does this look like at scale? If there were to be, let's say, $1 trillion worth of value in stablecoins, what type of risk-based approach do you need to have in place? How do you invest those funds? How do you make sure that the end-user when they present their token can ultimately receive $1 back and make sure that you have the appropriate consumer protections in place?

是的。所以我認為現在變得顯而易見的是——當你看看今天穩定幣的當前使用情況和當前的市值時，它是一個——讓我們稱之為 1500 億美元的整數。當你 - 它們主要用於數字貨幣交易用例，供那些想要承擔風險並在沒有法定鐵路的交易所獲得價值的人使用。而且我認為監管機構和政策制定者已經清楚的是，使用該技術進行支付是一個巨大的機會，它確實使今天可用的 1500 億美元相形見絀。因此，這些對話的本質實際上是圍繞著這在規模上是什麼樣子的？如果有，比如說，價值 1 萬億美元的穩定幣，你需要採用哪種基於風險的方法？你如何投資這些資金？你如何確保最終用戶在出示他們的代幣時最終可以收到 1 美元的返還，並確保你有適當的消費者保護措施？

And so I think that really that's what we're seeing and that's what we're feeling from commentary with folks. There's certainly been a lot of regulatory commentary in the general public over the last 60 days. And I think it's indicative of the fact that people -- this is relatively new technology, a relatively new concept and with just a massive TAM. And so because of that, as Alan mentioned in his comments, we want to make sure that we get it right. And we do think -- we continue to think that we are the best positioned bank of anyone out there to be able to deliver on this opportunity. But Alan, did you want to add anything?

所以我認為這就是我們所看到的，也是我們從人們的評論中感受到的。在過去的 60 天裡，公眾中肯定有很多監管評論。而且我認為這表明人們 - 這是相對較新的技術，相對較新的概念，並且只有一個龐大的 TAM。因此，正如 Alan 在他的評論中提到的那樣，我們希望確保我們做對了。我們確實認為 - 我們繼續認為我們是能夠抓住這個機會的任何人中最適合的銀行。但是艾倫，你想補充什麼嗎？

No. Why don't we see what follow-up question Joe has at this point. Thanks, Ben.

不。為什麼我們看不到喬此時的後續問題。謝謝，本。

That makes a lot of sense. I mean, it's $150 billion on stables for crypto trading related activity versus kind of something that kind of honestly looks and feels like M2 money supply, if it was used more broadly. That's a big difference, obviously.

這很有意義。我的意思是，與加密貨幣交易相關活動的馬厩價值為 1500 億美元，而如果它被更廣泛地使用的話，它看起來和感覺上都像 M2 貨幣供應。顯然，這是一個很大的區別。

And then maybe just one quick follow-up here. If we could focus on the customers, the new customers coming on in the quarter, if we could perhaps get a feel for, are these newer customers, are they bringing kind of -- what kind of deposit balances are they bringing in? And how do we kind of offset that versus perhaps smaller deposits for existing customers and kind of how to feel about new customer contribution to deposits versus what the macro may mean for lower deposits for existing customers?

然後也許只是一個快速的跟進。如果我們可以專注於客戶，本季度出現的新客戶，如果我們可以感受一下，這些新客戶是否帶來了——他們帶來了什麼樣的存款餘額？以及我們如何抵消現有客戶可能較小的存款，以及如何看待新客戶對存款的貢獻與宏觀可能對現有客戶較低的存款意味著什麼？

Yes. Joe, that's another great question. And I think Ben has got some good data for you on that one.

是的。喬，這是另一個很好的問題。我認為 Ben 已經為您提供了一些關於該數據的好數據。

So obviously, we look at our customers' deposit balances by category on a regular basis. And I think that when you look at exchanges and institutional investors, we definitely saw outflows in the quarter, and we think that those are indicative again of that lower price volatility and continuous low volumes. As you suggested, we did add over 90 customers in the quarter and close to 300 this year in 2022. From the new customers that have come on platform, we've actually seen about $1 billion in deposits from those customers. And we -- typically, that will continue to grow as they finish the onboarding process and get fully integrated within the SEN platform. So we are seeing really good engagement, really good interest from customers that are in the pipeline and that are now -- that have now on boarded. Of course, that's being offset by the macro conditions in the broader crypto industry. And so overall, given the state of things, this feels sort of, I guess, consistent with what we would expect.

顯然，我們會定期按類別查看客戶的存款餘額。而且我認為，當您查看交易所和機構投資者時，我們肯定會在本季度看到資金外流，我們認為這再次表明價格波動較低且交易量持續低迷。正如您所建議的那樣，我們在本季度確實增加了 90 多個客戶，到 2022 年今年將接近 300 個。從平台上的新客戶中，我們實際上已經看到這些客戶的存款約為 10 億美元。我們 - 通常，隨著他們完成入職流程並完全集成到 SEN 平台中，這將繼續增長。因此，我們看到了非常好的參與度，正在籌備中的客戶以及現在已經加入的客戶非常感興趣。當然，這被更廣泛的加密行業的宏觀條件所抵消。所以總的來說，考慮到事情的狀態，我猜這感覺有點符合我們的預期。

Our next question comes from Michael Perito of KBW.

我們的下一個問題來自 KBW 的 Michael Perito。

Just a follow-up on kind of the balance sheet strategy from here. Understanding it's challenging to predict where deposits go, but maybe a hypothetical, I mean I'm just trying to understand how much of the kind of building the brokered CDs and borrowings is kind of sustainable versus temporary as you guys see it? I mean if deposits continue to reduce next quarter, I mean, does the balance sheet start to shrink? Or do you guys expect to try to maintain that really small spread in the overall asset size in that scenario? Or you guys thinking about it in a different way?

只是從這裡開始對資產負債表策略的一種跟進。了解預測存款去向具有挑戰性，但也許是假設性的，我的意思是我只是想了解建立經紀 CD 和借款的方式在你們看來是可持續的還是暫時的？我的意思是，如果下個季度存款繼續減少，我的意思是，資產負債表會開始收縮嗎？或者你們是否希望在這種情況下嘗試保持整體資產規模的非常小的差異？還是你們以不同的方式思考它？

Let me touch on this really quickly, and I'll see if Tony has any additional thoughts. As we built our securities portfolio through the rapid growth that we experienced, as you may recall, we attempted to -- while we were buying securities, keep the majority of those relatively short in duration with adjustable rates, et cetera. And so we continue to benefit from the rising rate environment. And even though we started to put some hedges in place, as Tony mentioned in his prepared remarks, we continue to benefit -- our earnings continue to benefit from a rising interest rate environment, albeit at a lower pace. The benefit is slowing down. Having said that, there's also a little bit of a lag in the benefit that we experienced in the rising rate environment just based on the indexes and when the various securities reprice. So we still have a little bit of a tailwind there in terms of earnings impact while rates are continuing to rise. So again, we don't provide guidance, Mike, and we'll kind of take it as it comes. But it certainly so far hasn't seemed to make sense to sell some of the securities that might be closer to par due to the adjustable rate nature and give up some of the forward earnings potential of those same securities. And with that, Tony, I don't know if there's anything further that you'd like to add to that?

讓我很快談一談，我會看看托尼是否還有其他想法。您可能還記得，當我們通過我們經歷的快速增長建立我們的證券投資組合時，我們試圖 - 在我們購買證券的同時，以可調整的利率等方式保持大多數證券的期限相對較短，等等。因此，我們繼續受益於利率上升的環境。即使我們開始採取一些對沖措施，正如托尼在他準備好的講話中提到的那樣，我們繼續受益——我們的收益繼續受益於利率上升的環境，儘管速度較低。收益正在放緩。話雖如此，僅基於指數和各種證券重新定價時，我們在利率上升的環境中所獲得的收益也有一點滯後。因此，在利率繼續上升的同時，我們在收益影響方面仍然有一點順風。再說一次，邁克，我們不提供指導，我們會順其自然。但到目前為止，由於可調整利率的性質，出售一些可能更接近面值的證券並放棄這些證券的一些遠期盈利潛力，顯然到目前為止似乎沒有任何意義。有了這個，托尼，我不知道你還有什麼想補充的嗎？

Yes. No, I think that -- not much to add on that, Alan, other than to say, Mike, you've seen our kind of our Tier 1 leverage ratio, which is our kind of key ratio is close to 11% in the quarter. So it's gone up. So there's plenty of balance sheet capacity. And as Alan said, there's typically a 60-to 90-day delay in the repricing of the adjustable rate securities. So some of those benefits from interest rate rises even in September, aren't visible yet on the top line. So we'll continue to benefit from asset sensitivity going forward.

是的。不，我認為 - 沒什麼好補充的，艾倫，除了說，邁克，你已經看到了我們的一級槓桿比率，這是我們的關鍵比率接近 11%四分之一。所以就漲了。所以有足夠的資產負債表能力。正如艾倫所說，可調整利率證券的重新定價通常會延遲 60 到 90 天。因此，即使在 9 月份，加息帶來的一些好處在頂線上也看不到。因此，我們將繼續受益於未來的資產敏感性。

And then just secondly, appreciate the color on kind of the new customer deposit balances and engagement. Just as we think about how that translates to kind of the digital asset customer fee income, which was about $8 million this quarter. Obviously, my understanding is that stablecoin related activity really doesn't impact that. So is it -- I mean, I guess, as you guys see kind of this lower lull in activity this quarter, but continue to add new customers, are you guys optimistic that maybe we can start to see that figure reverse the trend of the last few quarters of contraction?

其次，欣賞新客戶存款餘額和參與度的顏色。正如我們考慮如何將其轉化為數字資產客戶費用收入一樣，本季度約為 800 萬美元。顯然，我的理解是，與穩定幣相關的活動確實不會對此產生影響。是嗎 - 我的意思是，我想，當你們看到本季度活動的這種較低的平靜，但繼續增加新客戶時，你們是否樂觀，也許我們可以開始看到這個數字扭轉最後幾個季度收縮？

Yes. I think, Mike, very broadly, while none of these metrics are necessarily drivers of each other, they are fairly correlated. And what I mean by that is going back to my earlier comments around SEN activity and the fact that with lower market trading volumes and lower price volatility, that's resulted in obviously lower SEN volumes. It's also been correlated to lower transactions, the on-ramping and off-ramping of dollars with existing customers who are wiring in money or wiring out money, et cetera, there's just less activity. So it's really hard to predict. The one thing that we have confidence in is that as long as we're continuing to add customers who are planning to use the SEN as the market, as the broader crypto market stabilizes, we think the long-term trajectory is still up into the right. I mean, if you zoom out and just think about some of the announcements, the institutional announcements that have been made in the last 2 or 3 months or so with the BlackRock-Coinbase partnership, NASDAQ announcing crypto custody, Visa, MasterCard just yesterday, the BNY Mellon custody announcement. There's just -- there's a lot of institutional adoption that is still coming that -- and none of these things are live yet. They're all -- they've all made announcements about things to come. And so we could not be more optimistic on the long-term trajectory, but these things take time to play out.

是的。我認為，邁克，從廣義上講，雖然這些指標都不一定是彼此的驅動因素，但它們是相當相關的。我的意思是回到我之前關於 SEN 活動的評論，以及隨著市場交易量和價格波動性的降低，這導致 SEN 交易量明顯下降。它還與較低的交易量、與正在匯入資金或匯出資金的現有客戶的美元進出坡道等相關，只是活動較少。所以真的很難預測。我們有信心的一件事是，只要我們繼續增加計劃將 SEN 用作市場的客戶，隨著更廣泛的加密市場穩定，我們認為長期軌跡仍處於上升趨勢。正確的。我的意思是，如果你縮小範圍，只考慮一些公告，過去 2 或 3 個月左右與貝萊德-Coinbase 合作發布的機構公告，納斯達克宣布加密託管，Visa，萬事達卡就在昨天，紐約梅隆銀行託管公告。只是——還有很多機構採用這種方式——而且這些東西都還沒有上線。他們都是——他們都宣布了即將發生的事情。因此，我們對長期軌跡不能更加樂觀，但這些事情需要時間才能發揮出來。

Our next question comes from George Sutton of Craig-Hallum.

我們的下一個問題來自 Craig-Hallum 的 George Sutton。

I'm curious if you could walk through more of a same customer sizing of deposits with really the intention to try to understand an average account will obviously react to volatility but also the higher interest rate options that they have. Is there any way to sort of break those 2 apart in terms of the impact?

我很好奇您是否可以通過更多相同客戶規模的存款來真正嘗試了解平均賬戶顯然會對波動性做出反應，但也會對他們擁有的更高利率選項做出反應。就影響而言，有什麼辦法可以將這兩個分開嗎？

Yes, Ben, do you want to take that one?

是的，本，你想拿那個嗎？

Yes. The short answer is, unfortunately not. We've said and will continue to say and this comes directly from our customers that really what they want is they want a robust trading environment with a lot of volume, a lot of volatility, a lot of new assets coming online and different arbitrage opportunities around the globe. And as we talked about, like in the second quarter, despite all of the kind of platforms that didn't perform that well because of different deleveraging in the system and whatnot, that was actually a really good trading environment for our customers. And so when they're comparing what they can generate from those trading strategies versus what they can earn on excess deposits, even at this interest rate level that we're at today, those 2 things kind of pale in comparison when you look at sort of an annualized return. And so that said, if there aren't those trading opportunities, then of course, they're going to take their deposits and earn their 300 basis points or whatever that they can earn, but it's really difficult to kind of parse those 2 different things. And ultimately, the improved macro environment is ultimately what we think will drive that increased engagement from our customers.

是的。簡短的回答是，不幸的是不是。我們已經說過並將繼續說，這直接來自我們的客戶，他們真正想要的是他們想要一個擁有大量交易量、大量波動性、大量新資產上線和不同套利機會的穩健交易環境在全球範圍內。正如我們所說的，就像在第二季度一樣，儘管由於系統中不同的去槓桿化以及諸如此類的原因，所有類型的平台都表現不佳，但這實際上對我們的客戶來說是一個非常好的交易環境。因此，當他們比較他們可以從這些交易策略中獲得的收益與他們可以從超額存款中獲得的收益時，即使在我們今天所處的這個利率水平下，當您查看排序時，這兩件事都顯得蒼白無力的年化回報。也就是說，如果沒有這些交易機會，那麼他們當然會接受存款並賺取 300 個基點或任何他們能賺到的東西，但是真的很難解析這兩個不同的事物。最終，改善的宏觀環境最終是我們認為將推動客戶參與度增加的因素。

So relative to the stablecoin project timing, you're certainly not the only one out there awaiting regulatory and policymaker clarity. Is there a broader regulatory and policymaker clarity that we should be looking for that might need to happen before your project? Or is it somewhat independent of that?

因此，相對於穩定幣項目的時間安排，你肯定不是唯一一個等待監管和政策制定者明確的人。我們應該尋找更廣泛的監管和政策制定者的明確性，這可能需要在您的項目之前發生嗎？還是在某種程度上獨立於它？

Yes. It's really -- obviously, it's virtually impossible for us to comment on what others might be waiting for. And from our perspective, the conversations that we're having with our regulators and our policymakers and the broader policymakers are very consistent with some of the public comments that you've seen out there over the last several weeks. Nobody thinks this is going away. Everybody wants to make sure that we've got all -- the industry has all the relevant controls in place and all the things that Ben was talking about earlier. And this kind of reminds me of going all the way back to the mid to late '70s with credit cards and the EFT commission. I mean I've -- as we've been working on this project over the last couple of years, I've gone back and looked at kind of the history of electronic funds transfer and some of the things that are being brought up by Congress, et cetera, as the different stablecoin builds are contemplated. The data points are very similar. And so I'm confident that we're going to get through all of the various questions and get to a point to where we can get something in the market. And as I commented on in my prepared remarks, you go back and look at what the opportunity is here for global payments and the opportunity is just absolutely massive. And it's also the thing that over time will actually separate Silvergate from these kind of micro crypto market volatility, if you will, once we transition to issuing a stablecoin, a tokenized dollar as we're referring to it on the blockchain. And once that is used for payments around the globe, that will really change the complexion of the relatively modest volumes in the crypto markets.

是的。真的——顯然，我們幾乎不可能評論其他人可能在等待什麼。從我們的角度來看，我們與監管機構、政策制定者和更廣泛的政策制定者進行的對話與您在過去幾週看到的一些公眾評論非常一致。沒有人認為這會消失。每個人都想確保我們擁有一切——該行業擁有所有相關的控制措施以及 Ben 之前談到的所有事情。這讓我想起了 70 年代中後期的信用卡和電子轉帳佣金。我的意思是我 - 因為我們在過去幾年一直在做這個項目，所以我回過頭來看看電子資金轉賬的歷史和一些由國會等，因為考慮了不同的穩定幣構建。數據點非常相似。所以我有信心，我們將解決所有各種問題，並達到我們可以在市場上獲得某些東西的地步。正如我在準備好的評論中評論的那樣，你回頭看看全球支付的機會是什麼，機會絕對是巨大的。而且，隨著時間的推移，Silvergate 實際上將與這種微型加密市場波動區分開來，如果你願意的話，一旦我們過渡到發行穩定幣，即我們在區塊鏈上所指的代幣化美元。一旦將其用於全球支付，這將真正改變加密市場中相對適度交易量的面貌。

^Operator^ (Operator Instruction] Our next question comes from David Chiaverini of Wedbush Securities.

^Operator^ (Operator Instruction) 我們的下一個問題來自 Wedbush Securities 的 David Chiaverini。

So I wanted to ask about SEN Leverage. Commitments increased to $1.5 billion, but the balances outstanding are only about $300 million. Curious as to what could drive these outstanding balances higher? Is it bullishness of your investors? Just curious on your commentary as to what could get that higher?

所以我想問一下 SEN Leverage。承諾增加至 15 億美元，但未償餘額僅為 3 億美元左右。好奇什麼可以推動這些未償餘額更高？是你的投資者看漲嗎？只是對您的評論感到好奇，什麼可以變得更高？

Yes. I think there's a couple of things. One, to your point, when volumes and volatility come back in this ecosystem, I think that will drive borrowing. But also as there's additional kind of stability in the price of Bitcoin as I commented earlier, the volatility in the price of Bitcoin has really gone down. That's not to say we're at the bottom. There could always be another leg down. But some of the customers that are -- that we're working with now, especially in the Bitcoin mining area, there's certainly opportunities for them to draw on their lines as well. And as you may be familiar, the actual Bitcoin hash rate is at all-time highs, notwithstanding the fact that the prices is relatively flat and down quite a bit off of its highs. And that just demonstrates the fact that there's still this Bitcoin network that has been operating uninterrupted with 100% uptime since early 2013. There's no other computer network in the world that can claim that uptime. And so over time, this lending against Bitcoin, we believe the opportunity is massive. And it is a little bit of a bright spot here in this quarter that notwithstanding all of the other metrics that we continue to add customers and continue to grow the SEN Leverage commitment level.

是的。我認為有幾件事。一，就你而言，當這個生態系統中的交易量和波動性回歸時，我認為這將推動借貸。但正如我之前評論的那樣，由於比特幣價格具有額外的穩定性，比特幣價格的波動性確實下降了。這並不是說我們處於底部。總是可能有另一條腿下來。但是我們現在正在與之合作的一些客戶，特別是在比特幣礦區，他們當然也有機會利用他們的產品線。正如您可能熟悉的那樣，實際的比特幣哈希率處於歷史最高水平，儘管價格相對持平並且從高點下跌了很多。而這恰恰證明了這樣一個事實，即自 2013 年初以來，仍然有這個比特幣網絡以 100% 的正常運行時間不間斷地運行。世界上沒有其他計算機網絡可以聲稱正常運行時間。因此，隨著時間的推移，這種針對比特幣的貸款，我們相信機會是巨大的。儘管有所有其他指標，但我們繼續增加客戶並繼續提高 SEN 槓桿承諾水平，這在本季度是一個亮點。

And then a follow-up, can you comment on the competitive environment, SEN volumes down 40%. Are clients using an alternative platform to move money or is this purely overall crypto market headwinds? Just could you comment on the competitive environment?

然後跟進，您能否評論一下競爭環境，SEN 交易量下降了 40%。客戶是在使用替代平台來轉移資金，還是這純粹是整個加密市場的逆風？你能評論一下競爭環境嗎？

Yes. We certainly don't have any direct insight into volumes of other banks. But we do track potential transfers of deposits between Silvergate and other banks, and we're just not seeing it. I think it's really more indicative of all the things that Ben mentioned earlier in terms of just lower market volumes and less trading opportunity in the ecosystem.

是的。我們當然無法直接了解其他銀行的交易量。但我們確實追踪了 Silvergate 和其他銀行之間潛在的存款轉移，只是沒有看到。我認為這確實更能說明 Ben 之前提到的所有事情，即市場交易量減少和生態系統中的交易機會減少。

^Operator^ Our next question comes from Jared Shaw of Wells Fargo.

^Operator^ 我們的下一個問題來自 Wells Fargo 的 Jared Shaw。

Our next question comes from [Timo Braziler] of Wells Fargo.

我們的下一個問題來自富國銀行的 [Timo Braziler]。

Apologies. (Operator Instructions) We've reconnected with Timo.

道歉。 （操作員說明）我們與 Timo 重新建立了聯繫。

This is actually Jared. I guess just following up on last -- we saw Coinbase had an announcement where they're working with another platform to, I think, mint and burn. Is that going to significantly impact the potential for SEN volumes? Or is this just an incremental additional competitive pressure that's sort of been out there overall?

這實際上是賈里德。我想只是在最後一次跟進——我們看到 Coinbase 發布了一個公告，他們正在與另一個平台合作，我認為，鑄造和燃燒。這會顯著影響 SEN 交易量的潛力嗎？或者這只是整體上存在的一種增量的額外競爭壓力？

I think just to be clear, the announcement wasn't specific to minting and burning, but just an announcement that they had enabled that competing platform, as you mentioned. And quite frankly, we've expected this for quite some time. One of the things, again going all the way back to 2013, when we first started looking at banking this ecosystem, one of the challenges that exchanges and other market participants were having even back then was just there were relatively few banks banking the ecosystem and therefore, these platforms seek to have redundancy where they can. And so we certainly don't expect to see any significant impact directly related to that announcement on the volumes across the SEN. And as I mentioned, it's something that we've expected. And candidly, I was a little surprised that it wasn't in place already just given the fact that we know that a lot of these exchange platforms like to have that redundancy in place.

我想澄清一下，該公告並非特定於鑄造和燃燒，而只是宣布他們已啟用該競爭平台，正如您所提到的。坦率地說，我們已經預料到這一點已經有一段時間了。其中一件事，再次回到 2013 年，當我們第一次開始關注為這個生態系統提供銀行服務時，交易所和其他市場參與者甚至在那時面臨的挑戰之一就是相對較少的銀行為生態系統提供銀行服務，並且因此，這些平台盡可能地尋求冗餘。因此，我們當然不希望看到與該公告直接相關的任何重大影響對整個 SEN 的交易量產生影響。正如我所提到的，這是我們所期待的。坦率地說，我有點驚訝它還沒有到位，因為我們知道很多這些交換平台都喜歡有這種冗餘。

And just going back to the sort of shift in deposit focus and bringing on the CDs. How big is a percentage of deposits, I guess, would you be willing to have brokered CDs go or more broadly interest-bearing deposits go? And then have you added any in the third quarter? And sort of what's the term rate of those deposits?

回到存款重點的轉變並帶來CD。我猜，存款的百分比有多大，你願意接受經紀 CD 還是更廣泛的計息存款？然後你有沒有在第三季度添加任何東西？這些存款的期限利率是多少？

Yes, I'll just go ahead and take this one, Tony. So we don't provide any incremental updates during the quarter, so for that part of that question. And then to the broader question of what percentage of the balance sheet or what percentage of our deposits, certainly, we look at various kind of wholesale strategies, if you will, as they're described, whether that be Federal Home Loan Bank borrowings or brokered CDs or other types of borrowings. And it really just comes back to the comments that I made earlier around balance sheet management and looking at what assets are those borrowings and wholesale funding, what assets are they funding and can we generate a positive spread there, so no specific guidance. And we run a very, as you know, a very liquid balance sheet. And we certainly have the ability to borrow against the securities as we've done in the past. We could certainly sell some of the securities if we had further deposit pressure. But at this point, we're very comfortable with the strategy as it's playing out.

是的，托尼，我會繼續拿這個。因此，我們在本季度不提供任何增量更新，所以對於該問題的那一部分。然後是更廣泛的問題，即資產負債表的百分比或存款的百分比，當然，我們會研究各種批發策略，如果你願意的話，正如他們所描述的那樣，無論是聯邦住房貸款銀行的借款還是經紀 CD 或其他類型的借款。它真的回到了我之前關於資產負債表管理的評論，看看這些借款和批發資金是什麼資產，他們為什麼資產提供資金，我們能否在那裡產生正價差，所以沒有具體的指導。如你所知，我們運行著一個非常流動的資產負債表。我們當然有能力像過去那樣以證券為抵押借款。如果我們有進一步的存款壓力，我們當然可以出售一些證券。但在這一點上，我們對正在實施的策略感到非常滿意。

We have no further questions on the phone line, so I'll hand back for any closing remarks.

我們在電話線上沒有其他問題，所以我會交出任何結束語。

All right. Thank you, Jordan. So I just want to thank everybody for joining today. And notwithstanding the challenging environment, we remain very optimistic on the long-term opportunities that the platform provides. Our strength of the platform, it's the result of the hard work of our entire team at Silvergate. I want to thank the team. We added another 90-plus customers and we're actively continuing to add customers. So thank you to the Silvergate team. Thank you for all of you who called in, and I hope you have a great day.

好的。謝謝你，喬丹。所以我只想感謝大家今天的加入。儘管環境充滿挑戰，但我們對該平台提供的長期機會仍然非常樂觀。我們平台的實力，是我們整個 Silvergate 團隊辛勤工作的結果。我要感謝團隊。我們又增加了 90 多個客戶，並且我們正在積極地繼續增加客戶。感謝 Silvergate 團隊。感謝所有打來電話的人，我希望你們有美好的一天。

This concludes today's call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的加入。您現在可以斷開線路。