Silvergate Capital Corp (SI) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Silvergate Capital Corporate Business Update Call. My name is Emily, and I'll be coordinating your call today. (Operator Instructions)

大家好，歡迎來到 Silvergate Capital 公司業務更新電話會議。我叫艾米麗，今天我會協調你的電話。 （操作員說明）

I'll now turn the call over to our host, Hunter Stenback, Investor Relations at Silvergate Capital. Please go ahead, Hunter.

我現在將電話轉給我們的主持人 Hunter Stenback，Silvergate Capital 的投資者關係部。請繼續，獵人。

Good morning, and thank you for joining us today to discuss Silvergate's business update and select preliminary and unaudited fourth quarter 2022 financial metrics. These metrics are subject to change in connection with conducting and completing normal closing procedures and an audit for the year ended December 31, 2022.

早上好，感謝您今天加入我們討論 Silvergate 的業務更新並選擇 2022 年第四季度初步和未經審計的財務指標。這些指標可能會因執行和完成正常的關閉程序以及截至 2022 年 12 月 31 日止年度的審計而發生變化。

With me here today are Chief Executive Officer, Alan Lane; Chief Financial Officer, Tony Martino; and President, Ben Reynolds. Alan will kick off the call with a few prepared remarks, and then we will dive into your questions.

今天和我在一起的是首席執行官 Alan Lane；首席財務官托尼·馬蒂諾；和總裁本·雷諾茲 (Ben Reynolds)。艾倫將以一些準備好的發言開始電話會議，然後我們將深入探討您的問題。

As a reminder, a telephonic replay of this call will be available through 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on January 19, 2023. Access to the replay is also available on the Investor Relations section of our website.

提醒一下，該電話的電話重播將在美國東部時間晚上 11:59 之前提供。東部時間 2023 年 1 月 19 日。也可以在我們網站的投資者關係部分訪問重播。

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。這些陳述包括有關管理層未來預期、信念、估計、計劃和前景的評論。此類陳述受各種風險、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陳述所指示或暗示的結果存在重大差異。我們向證券交易委員會提交的定期和當前報告中列出了此類風險和其他因素。我們不承擔任何更新此類前瞻性陳述的義務。

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 thank you, everyone, for joining today. Our main goal for this call is to answer your questions. But before we do, I wanted to take a moment to provide a few brief comments. As you know, the digital asset industry has undergone a transformational shift with the potential for further evolution still to come. Significant over-leverage in the industry has led to several high-profile bankruptcies and sparked a crisis of confidence across the entire digital asset ecosystem. As a result, many industry participants have shifted to a risk-off position across digital asset trading platforms.

謝謝 Hunter，也謝謝大家今天的加入。我們這次電話會議的主要目的是回答您的問題。但在我們這樣做之前，我想花點時間提供一些簡短的評論。如您所知，數字資產行業已經經歷了一場轉型，並有進一步發展的潛力。該行業嚴重的過度槓桿化導致了幾起備受矚目的破產事件，並引發了整個數字資產生態系統的信任危機。因此，許多行業參與者已經轉向跨數字資產交易平台的避險頭寸。

Our first priority has been supporting our customers through this challenging period. The Silvergate Exchange Network, or SEN, continues to operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and serves as critical market infrastructure for the digital asset industry. We have seen average daily volume on the SEN of $1.3 billion during the fourth quarter of 2022, which compares to average daily volume of $1.2 billion in the third quarter of 2022. Meanwhile, SEN Leverage, our bitcoin collateralized lending product, has continued to perform as expected, with 0 losses and no forced liquidations to date.

我們的首要任務是支持我們的客戶度過這個充滿挑戰的時期。 Silvergate 交易網絡 (SEN) 繼續每週 7 天、每天 24 小時運行，並充當數字資產行業的關鍵市場基礎設施。我們發現 SEN 的日均交易量在 2022 年第四季度為 13 億美元，而 2022 年第三季度的日均交易量為 12 億美元。與此同時，我們的比特幣抵押借貸產品 SEN 槓桿繼續表現出色正如預期的那樣，迄今為止零虧損且沒有強制平倉。

In light of recent industry dynamics, including customers moving to a risk-off position across digital asset trading platforms, total deposits from digital asset customers declined to $3.8 billion at December 31, 2022, compared to $11.9 billion at September 30, 2022. We saw a high of $11.9 billion and a low of $3.5 billion during the fourth quarter. As of December 31, 2022, approximately $150 million of Silvergate's deposits were from customers that have filed for bankruptcy.

鑑於最近的行業動態，包括客戶轉向跨數字資產交易平台的避險頭寸，數字資產客戶的總存款在 2022 年 12 月 31 日下降至 38 億美元，而 2022 年 9 月 30 日為 119 億美元。我們看到第四季度最高為 119 億美元，最低為 35 億美元。截至 2022 年 12 月 31 日，Silvergate 約有 1.5 億美元的存款來自已申請破產的客戶。

Importantly, deposits with Silvergate have been and continue to be safely held. As of December 31, 2022, Silvergate held total cash and cash equivalents of approximately $4.6 billion, which is in excess of deposits from digital asset customers. Overall, our business is designed to accommodate deposit inflows and outflows under a range of market conditions. And because we maintain a cash position in excess of our digital asset-related deposits, our customers know they can access 100% of their deposits.

重要的是，Silvergate 的存款已經並將繼續安全持有。截至 2022 年 12 月 31 日，Silvergate 持有的現金和現金等價物總額約為 46 億美元，超過了數字資產客戶的存款。總體而言，我們的業務旨在適應各種市場條件下的存款流入和流出。而且由於我們的現金頭寸超過與數字資產相關的存款，我們的客戶知道他們可以 100% 地使用他們的存款。

In response to the rapid changes in the digital asset industry during the fourth quarter, we took commensurate steps to ensure that we were maintaining cash liquidity in order to satisfy potential deposit outflows. As customers began to withdraw deposits during the quarter, we utilized wholesale funding to satisfy outflows. Subsequently, in order to accommodate sustained lower deposit levels and maintain our highly liquid balance sheet, Silvergate sold debt securities for cash proceeds.

為了應對第四季度數字資產行業的快速變化，我們採取了相應的措施來確保我們保持現金流動性，以滿足潛在的存款外流。由於客戶在本季度開始提取存款，我們利用批發資金來滿足資金流出。隨後，為了適應持續較低的存款水平並維持我們高度流動的資產負債表，Silvergate 出售債務證券以獲取現金收益。

We sold $5.2 billion of debt securities during the fourth quarter of 2022, resulting in a loss on the sale of securities and related derivatives of $718 million. This sale included available-for-sale securities as well as certain securities that were previously identified as held-to-maturity. At December 31, 2022, the company held $5.6 billion of total debt securities at fair value, all of which are U.S. government or agency-backed and available for sale, and which include unrealized losses of approximately $0.3 billion.

我們在 2022 年第四季度出售了 52 億美元的債務證券，導致出售證券和相關衍生品的損失為 7.18 億美元。此次出售包括可供出售的證券以及之前被確定為持有至到期的某些證券。截至 2022 年 12 月 31 日，公司持有 56 億美元的公允價值債務證券，全部由美國政府或機構支持並可供出售，其中包括約 3 億美元的未實現虧損。

The company anticipates selling a portion of these securities in early 2023 to reduce wholesale borrowings, which will result in recognition of a fourth quarter impairment charge related to the unrealized loss on those securities expected to be sold. As we always have, we will continue to evaluate our balance sheet and liquidity management needs, which will depend on deposit flows and customer behavior.

公司預計在 2023 年初出售部分這些證券以減少批發借款，這將導致確認與預計出售的這些證券的未實現損失相關的第四季度減值費用。一如既往，我們將繼續評估我們的資產負債表和流動性管理需求，這將取決於存款流量和客戶行為。

Now I would like to take a moment to outline our go-forward strategy. As we prepare for a sustained period of lower deposit levels, we are taking several decisive actions to ensure our business is resilient, including recalibrating our expense base and evaluating our product portfolio and customer relationships going forward. First, we have made the difficult decision to reduce our workforce by approximately 200 people or 40%. Throughout 2022, we increased employee headcount at a rapid rate in an effort to keep up with our growing business and to serve our customers effectively. It has since become clear that we need to manage expenses in order to account for the economic realities facing our business and the industry today. We estimate aggregate costs associated with the reduction in force of approximately $8 million and expect the majority of these charges to be incurred in the first quarter of 2023.

現在我想花點時間概述一下我們的前進戰略。當我們為持續較低的存款水平做準備時，我們正在採取多項果斷行動以確保我們的業務具有彈性，包括重新調整我們的費用基礎以及評估我們的產品組合和未來的客戶關係。首先，我們做出了裁員約 200 人或 40% 的艱難決定。在整個 2022 年，我們快速增加了員工人數，以努力跟上我們不斷增長的業務並有效地為我們的客戶提供服務。從那以後很明顯，我們需要管理費用，以應對當今我們的業務和行業所面臨的經濟現實。我們估計與裁員相關的總成本約為 800 萬美元，並預計這些費用中的大部分將在 2023 年第一季度發生。

This is a difficult moment and I'd like to extend my sincere gratitude to those impacted for their contributions to Silvergate. We are committed to providing severance and job assistance resources for all those affected by the reduction in force.

這是一個艱難的時刻，我想對那些因對 Silvergate 做出的貢獻而受到影響的人們表示衷心的感謝。我們致力於為所有受裁員影響的人提供遣散費和工作援助資源。

Second, we are focusing our strategy to provide the most value-added solutions for our core digital asset customers. Over the coming weeks, we will be streamlining our product portfolio to reduce complexity while ensuring our institutional clients have the tools they need to continue operating efficiently. In line with this approach, we exited our mortgage warehouse lending product in the fourth quarter of 2022, incurring a restructuring charge of approximately $4 million, primarily related to severance and employee benefits.

其次，我們的戰略重點是為我們的核心數字資產客戶提供最具附加值的解決方案。在接下來的幾週內，我們將精簡我們的產品組合以降低複雜性，同時確保我們的機構客戶擁有繼續高效運營所需的工具。根據這種方法，我們在 2022 年第四季度退出了我們的抵押貸款倉庫貸款產品，產生了約 400 萬美元的重組費用，主要與遣散費和員工福利有關。

Finally, after performing an impairment analysis of our intangible assets, we took an impairment charge of $196 million in the fourth quarter of 2022 related to developed technology assets purchased from the Diem Group. Given the significant changes in the digital asset industry landscape, this charge reflects our belief that our launch of a blockchain-based payment solution is no longer imminent. We remain committed to seeking opportunities to realize value for these technology assets.

最後，在對我們的無形資產進行減值分析後，我們在 2022 年第四季度對從 Diem Group 購買的已開發技術資產計提了 1.96 億美元的減值費用。鑑於數字資產行業格局的重大變化，這一收費反映了我們相信我們推出基於區塊鏈的支付解決方案不再迫在眉睫。我們仍然致力於尋找機會實現這些技術資產的價值。

Before we open the line for questions, I want to emphasize that Silvergate's mission has not changed. We continue to believe in the digital asset industry and remain focused on providing value-added services for our core institutional customers. While the decisions we have had to make are difficult, we are confident that these changes will enable us to continue serving our core customers in a responsible and profitable manner.

在我們打開問題熱線之前，我想強調 Silvergate 的使命沒有改變。我們繼續相信數字資產行業，並繼續專注於為我們的核心機構客戶提供增值服務。雖然我們必須做出的決定很困難，但我們相信這些變化將使我們能夠繼續以負責任和有利可圖的方式為我們的核心客戶提供服務。

Given the current level of industry uncertainty, we are committed to maintaining a highly liquid balance sheet with minimal credit exposure and a strong capital position, ensuring maximum flexibility for our customers. As we have said many times before, we purpose-built this business to support our customers, not only during periods of growth, but also in times of volatility. Despite significant challenges in the broader industry, we stand ready to support our digital asset customers. We look forward to sharing more during our earnings call on January 17.

鑑於當前行業的不確定性水平，我們致力於維持高流動性的資產負債表、最小的信用風險和強大的資本狀況，確保為我們的客戶提供最大的靈活性。正如我們之前多次說過的那樣，我們專門建立這項業務是為了支持我們的客戶，不僅在增長時期，而且在動盪時期。儘管更廣泛的行業面臨重大挑戰，但我們隨時準備為我們的數字資產客戶提供支持。我們期待在 1 月 17 日的財報電話會議上分享更多信息。

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

因此，我想請接線員開通提問熱線。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) The first question today comes from the line of Michael Perito with KBW.

（操作員說明）今天的第一個問題來自 Michael Perito 與 KBW 的對話。

So I have a lot, but I guess I'll to try to keep the 2 here. Number one is just can you give us a little bit more color on the security sales and the corresponding impact to kind of where book value goes. I know you guys aren't releasing full financials, but it seems very relevant just kind of given where the stock is to try and have an idea here. I mean it seems like you're suggesting you sold some HTM securities portfolio -- securities rather, is it fair to assume that, that entire portfolio will have to be marked? And just some parameters there, I think, would be a helpful starting point.

所以我有很多，但我想我會盡量把 2 留在這裡。第一，你能否給我們更多關於證券銷售的顏色以及對賬面價值走向的相應影響。我知道你們不會發布完整的財務數據，但它似乎非常相關，只是考慮到股票將在這裡嘗試並有一個想法。我的意思是，您似乎在建議您出售一些 HTM 證券投資組合——更確切地說是證券，假設整個投資組合都必須被標記是否公平？我認為那裡的一些參數將是一個有用的起點。

Sure, Mike. I appreciate the question, and I'll go ahead and start and then turn it over to Tony for any additional detail. But you are correct. We did make the decision late in the fourth quarter that we no longer have the ability and the intent to hold the securities that were previously categorized as held-to-maturity. And that was fairly obvious given the fact that we were selling a significant portion of our securities portfolio. And as I mentioned in my prepared comments, we will likely sell additional securities here early in 2023 to further pay down wholesale borrowings.

當然，邁克。我很欣賞這個問題，我將繼續並開始，然後將其轉交給 Tony 以獲取更多詳細信息。但你是對的。我們確實在第四季度末做出了決定，即我們不再有能力也無意持有之前歸類為持有至到期的證券。鑑於我們出售了很大一部分證券投資組合，這一點相當明顯。正如我在準備好的評論中提到的那樣，我們可能會在 2023 年初在這裡出售更多證券，以進一步償還批發借款。

And so just to make sure nobody is double-counting here, you could go back and look at the mark on the available sale portfolio at September 30, and then also look at the mark on the HTM portfolio, which was disclosed in our 10-Q. And you could assume that all of that now is -- has either been realized through that $700-plus million of loss and/or is included in the remaining roughly $300 million of mark on the portfolio. And let me ask Tony to provide any additional comment to make sure I didn't say anything incorrectly there.

因此，為了確保這裡沒有人重複計算，您可以回去查看 9 月 30 日可用銷售組合的標記，然後再查看 HTM 組合的標記，這在我們的 10-問。你可以假設現在所有這些 - 已經通過 7 億美元以上的損失實現和/或包含在投資組合中剩餘的大約 3 億美元標記中。讓我請 Tony 提供任何其他評論，以確保我沒有說錯任何話。

Yes. Thanks, Alan, and thanks for the question, Mike. And yes, Alan covered off the result. As we indicated in the Q3 10-K, there was a $426 million mark-to-market unrealized on the held-to-maturity. But as we've disclosed, the portfolio at fair value as of year-end is $5.6 billion and it includes all the securities that we've got left in the portfolio, and they're all mark-to-market through AFS. So your assumption, Mike, was correct. Thanks for the question.

是的。謝謝，Alan，也謝謝 Mike 的提問。是的，艾倫掩蓋了結果。正如我們在第三季度 10-K 中指出的那樣，持有至到期日有 4.26 億美元未實現按市值計價。但正如我們所披露的那樣，截至年底的公允價值投資組合為 56 億美元，其中包括我們留在投資組合中的所有證券，它們都是通過 AFS 按市值計價的。所以你的假設，邁克，是正確的。謝謝你的問題。

Got it. And then for my follow-up, just I think -- I know you guys don't provide deposit guidance and -- but the environment here is obviously pretty challenging. I guess the short version of the question is, one, why are customers pulling funds? Is it simply that they are not investing in crypto assets anymore, and hence, moving those monies to treasuries and other things, and there's no point in holding money on the sand if they're not investing in crypto?

知道了。然後對於我的後續行動，我認為——我知道你們不提供存款指導——但這裡的環境顯然非常具有挑戰性。我想問題的簡短版本是，第一，客戶為什麼要撤資？僅僅是因為他們不再投資於加密資產，因此將這些資金轉移到國庫券和其他東西上，如果他們不投資於加密資產，那麼持有資金就沒有意義了嗎？

And then two, as you think about where deposits go from here, I mean, is there still a commitment to the space as much as you guys are committed to it? Do you expect these customers to eventually start trading again once the FTX fallout kind of is closer to completion? Or how are you guys viewing that kind of outlook for the industry and your business on the deposit side relative to the $3.8 billion period on level?

然後兩個，當你考慮存款從這裡去哪裡時，我的意思是，是否仍然像你們一樣致力於這個領域？一旦 FTX 的影響接近完成，您是否預計這些客戶最終會再次開始交易？或者，相對於 38 億美元的水平，你們如何看待存款方面的行業和業務前景？

Yes, Mike, I'm going to just make a couple of high-level comments and then turn it over to Ben, because I think he's got some good market color having spoken with a lot of our customers over the last quarter. But the first thing that I do want to say is I'd like to zoom out a little bit and encourage everybody to zoom out a little bit. And you asked the question there towards the end about -- you framed it as the FTX fallout. Let's zoom out and look at what happened throughout 2022, because what you really saw was a significant over-leveraging that began to unwind in the first half of the year.

是的，邁克，我只想發表一些高層次的評論，然後將其轉交給本，因為我認為他在上個季度與我們的許多客戶交談後，已經獲得了一些良好的市場色彩。但我想說的第一件事是，我想縮小一點，並鼓勵大家縮小一點。你在最後問了一個問題——你把它描述為 FTX 的後果。讓我們把目光拉遠，看看整個 2022 年發生了什麼，因為你真正看到的是在今年上半年開始解除的嚴重過度槓桿化。

And everybody on this call is probably well aware of the Terra Luna collapse, the subsequent collapse of Three Arrows Capital, the bankruptcies of in the second and third quarter of Celsius and Voyager, and then more recently in the fourth quarter, Block5. So this was a much more widespread kind of deleveraging of the ecosystem that obviously culminated with the collapse of FTX. But when you put all of that in context, then, yes, what we have seen is a lot of institutional players, there's just been this crisis of confidence and in that kind of a situation, many of the institutional players have been pulling money off of these trading platforms.

參加這次電話會議的每個人都可能很清楚 Terra Luna 崩潰、三箭資本隨後的崩潰、Celsius 和 Voyager 在第二和第三季度的破產，以及最近在第四季度的 Block5。因此，這是一種更為廣泛的生態系統去槓桿化，顯然以 FTX 的崩潰告終。但是當你把所有這些放在上下文中時，那麼，是的，我們看到的是很多機構參與者，剛剛出現了這種信任危機，在那種情況下，許多機構參與者一直在撤資這些交易平台。

I would also say that we saw that happen throughout most of the fourth quarter. But obviously, at year-end, we were up a little bit off of the low in terms of deposits. The low point was $3.5 billion, we settled in at year-end at $3.8 billion. I'm not suggesting that that's -- that we've hit the bottom. I'm not suggesting that we're bouncing and now we're going up. As you correctly indicated, we don't provide guidance. And now everybody probably understands why we don't provide guidance, because this is a really volatile industry and it is impossible to predict. And because it's impossible to predict, that is why we structured our balance sheet the way we did so that we could, in fact, withstand essentially a 70% drawdown on our deposits and still be here today to talk with you.

我還要說的是，我們在第四季度的大部分時間裡都看到了這種情況。但很明顯，在年底，我們的存款略高於低點。最低點是 35 億美元，我們在年底以 38 億美元結算。我並不是說那是——我們已經觸底了。我並不是說我們正在反彈，現在我們正在上升。正如您正確指出的那樣，我們不提供指導。現在大家大概明白我們為什麼不提供指導了，因為這是一個非常不穩定的行業，無法預測。因為無法預測，這就是為什麼我們按照原來的方式構建資產負債表，以便我們實際上能夠承受 70% 的存款提取，並且今天仍然在這裡與您交談。

And to also be able to confidently say that we actually, in addition to the 70% drawdown, we are holding cash in excess of all remaining deposits in this digital asset space so that we are here to serve our customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And as I mentioned, the SEN continues to operate uninterrupted. But with that, Ben, do you want to provide some additional market color in response to Mike's question?

並且能夠自信地說，實際上，除了 70% 的提款外，我們持有的現金超過了該數字資產領域所有剩餘存款，因此我們每天 24 小時為客戶提供服務，7一周幾天。正如我提到的，SEN 繼續不間斷地運行。但是，本，你想提供一些額外的市場色彩來回答邁克的問題嗎？

Yes, yes. Thanks, Alan. So as Alan characterized, there was a crisis of confidence and a lack of trust in the industry that happened in the fourth quarter. And so we had clients that were proprietary traders, market makers that had been doing business with each other for sometimes 6, 8 years, that just stop doing business with each other and pulled their -- essentially pulled all their deposits. We had some clients that moved -- these are crypto-native firms that moved almost completely into U.S. treasuries.

是的是的。謝謝，艾倫。因此，正如艾倫所描述的那樣，第四季度發生了信心危機和對該行業缺乏信任。因此，我們的客戶是自營交易員、做市商，他們彼此做生意有時長達 6、8 年，他們只是停止彼此做生意並提取他們的 - 基本上提取了他們所有的存款。我們有一些客戶搬家了——這些是加密原生公司，幾乎完全搬進了美國國債。

So that was sort of the dynamic that happened in the fourth quarter. As we were talking with our clients and asking them, "Hey, when might you shift to a risk-on position?" they really couldn't tell us. That said, we didn't have any clients that said that they were exiting the space altogether. Perhaps there will be some that do, but we didn't receive that feedback. And our clients were generally supportive of Silvergate despite the fact that they pulled their deposits. And just really given the overall circumstances, decided to take that action. And -- but seemed to be committed to the space and willing to come back when market conditions are right.

所以這就是第四季度發生的動態。當我們與客戶交談並詢問他們時，“嘿，你什麼時候可以轉向風險頭寸？”他們真的不能告訴我們。也就是說，我們沒有任何客戶表示他們將完全退出該領域。也許會有一些這樣做，但我們沒有收到反饋。儘管我們的客戶提取了存款，但他們普遍支持 Silvergate。並且只是真正考慮到整體情況，決定採取該行動。而且 - 但似乎致力於該領域並願意在市場條件合適時回來。

We will now move on to our next question from Steven Alexopoulos from JPMorgan.

我們現在將繼續來自摩根大通的 Steven Alexopoulos 的下一個問題。

I wanted to start on the expense side. So given the reduction in headcount, can you quantify the expected cost saves? And do you expect to be profitable beyond the fourth quarter?

我想從費用方面開始。那麼考慮到員工人數的減少，您能否量化預期的成本節省？您預計第四季度以後會盈利嗎？

Yes, Steve, it's a fair question, and it's a little bit too early for us. As you know, we typically don't provide guidance. We will absolutely, when we release first quarter earnings, we'll be able to have -- excuse me, fourth quarter earnings, we'll be able to have a little bit more detail, if you will, on what we think the expense base will look like going forward. As to whether or not we'll be profitable in the first quarter, as I mentioned in my prepared remarks, we are likely going to continue to sell securities here in the first quarter. Some of that will actually already be reflected in fourth quarter via an impairment charge. We're still working on those numbers. But then we also will be taking the restructuring charge for the severance, et cetera, here in the first quarter.

是的，史蒂夫，這是一個公平的問題，但對我們來說還為時過早。如您所知，我們通常不提供指導。我們絕對會，當我們發布第一季度收益時，我們將能夠 - 對不起，第四季度收益，如果你願意的話，我們將能夠更詳細地了解我們認為的費用基地看起來會向前發展。至於我們是否會在第一季度盈利，正如我在準備好的發言中提到的那樣，我們可能會在第一季度繼續在這裡出售證券。其中一些實際上已經通過減值費用反映在第四季度。我們仍在研究這些數字。但是我們也將在第一季度在這裡承擔遣散費等的重組費用。

So our -- we take a long-term view here. And so the goal is to get as many of these restructuring charges and adjustments to the business completed here in the first quarter, so that we can be profitable prospectively. But at this point, we're not able to comment on whether the first quarter will actually be profitable.

所以我們 - 我們在這裡採取長期觀點。因此，我們的目標是在第一季度完成盡可能多的重組費用和業務調整，以便我們能夠實現預期盈利。但在這一點上，我們無法評論第一季度是否真的會盈利。

Yes, Alan, I was really getting at -- excluding the onetime charges, if you're recalibrating expenses to get to that point where you're at least breakeven moving forward, it sounds like you're saying yes to that.

是的，艾倫，我真的很在意——不包括一次性費用，如果你正在重新調整開支以達到至少收支平衡的程度，聽起來你是在說是。

Yes. I mean, again, Steve, the way I would just kind of qualify that is we are recalibrating our expense base. And then also, as we've mentioned, taking a look at the products that we're offering, et cetera, to make sure that all of the products that we offer are profitable. But obviously, a big wildcard in all of this is where are deposits, right? It's part of the reason we've had to essentially cut as deep as we have on the expense side is a reflection of looking at where deposits kind of settled out in the fourth quarter and assuming that a range of plus or minus range around that level is where we stayed. That's how we've kind of tried to recalibrate our expense base.

是的。我的意思是，再一次，史蒂夫，我想證明的是我們正在重新調整我們的費用基礎。然後，正如我們已經提到的，看看我們提供的產品等等，以確保我們提供的所有產品都是有利可圖的。但顯然，所有這一切的一個大通配符是存款在哪裡，對吧？這是我們不得不在支出方面大幅削減的部分原因，這反映了觀察存款在第四季度結算的位置，並假設圍繞該水平的正負範圍是我們住的地方。這就是我們試圖重新調整我們的費用基礎的方式。

The other thing that I would point out is that it wasn't too long ago that we, as a company, were at this very spot in terms of deposit levels and employee count, right? It was literally 2 years ago, the fourth quarter of 2020, when we were operating the bank as -- under a $5 billion bank, we crossed over the $5 billion threshold in total assets right at year-end 2020 and we had roughly the same headcount that we do now after this reduction in force that we just implemented. So, there is absolutely precedent for looking at Silvergate through the lens of where were we 2 years ago and were we profitable then, et cetera. So without providing forward guidance, I think you can look to the past as a proxy.

我要指出的另一件事是，就在不久之前，我們作為一家公司，在存款水平和員工人數方面處於這個位置，對吧？實際上是 2 年前，也就是 2020 年第四季度，當時我們經營銀行的方式是——在一家價值 50 億美元的銀行下，我們的總資產在 2020 年底跨過了 50 億美元的門檻，我們擁有大致相同的資產在我們剛剛實施的裁員之後，我們現在所做的人數。因此，從 2 年前我們在哪里以及當時我們是否盈利等角度來看待 Silvergate 是絕對有先例的。因此，在不提供前瞻性指導的情況下，我認為您可以將過去視為代理人。

Our next question comes from Joseph Vafi with Canaccord.

我們的下一個問題來自 Joseph Vafi 和 Canaccord。

Thanks for hosting this call to get some of this information out. Just wondering on the customer side, clearly, there's less demand in the industry and maybe you're onboarding less customers, but any change to that onboarding kind of profile of customers that you're looking at or may not bring on to the SEN now versus before this? I have a quick follow-up.

感謝您主持此次電話會議以獲取其中的一些信息。只是想知道在客戶方面，很明顯，這個行業的需求減少了，也許你的入職客戶也減少了，但是你正在尋找或可能不會給 SEN 帶來的入職客戶概況的任何變化與之前相比？我有一個快速跟進。

I'll just go ahead and kick that question directly to Ben.

我會直接把這個問題拋給 Ben。

So most of -- so as you know, we serve the institutional side of the business, and we've definitely seen a slowdown in institutions coming into the space. So most of the institutions that are clients of ours are raising money from limited partners. Obviously, given everything that's been going on in the industry, raising money at this time is challenging. So we have seen a bit of a slowdown there.

所以大多數 - 如你所知，我們服務於企業的機構方面，我們肯定看到機構進入該領域的速度有所放緩。因此，作為我們客戶的大多數機構都是從有限合夥人那裡籌集資金的。顯然，考慮到該行業一直在發生的一切，此時籌集資金具有挑戰性。所以我們看到那裡有點放緩。

That said, we've been -- we've always been focused on adding quality clients that we believe are profitable for the platform, and so that mission hasn't changed. And we do think that -- we are continuing to have discussions with folks, and I would guess, probably characterize it overall as a slowdown.

也就是說，我們一直 - 我們一直專注於增加我們認為對平台有利可圖的優質客戶，因此使命沒有改變。我們確實認為 - 我們正在繼續與人們進行討論，我猜，可能將其總體描述為經濟放緩。

Okay. And then on the Diem assets that you're kind of writing down or taking an impairment charge on. I mean, clearly, if there's less, I guess, operating ability right now to kind of expand the business and investment spend there, is it -- do you see it -- or do you see that as an operating constraint now or a balance sheet constraint more in not moving that forward at this point? Or is it an industry-level thing where you believe that maybe the kind of just the overall environment, regulatory environment, et cetera, just doesn't lend itself to moving any of that forward right now?

好的。然後是您要減記或計提減值費用的 Diem 資產。我的意思是，很明顯，我想，如果現在的運營能力不足以擴大那裡的業務和投資支出，那是——你看到了嗎——或者你認為這是現在的運營限制還是平衡？在這一點上不向前推進更多的工作表限制？或者這是一個行業層面的事情，你認為也許只是整體環境、監管環境等等，現在不適合推動任何事情向前發展？

Yes, Joe, that's a really good question, I'm glad you asked it. Because I think what we should do is separate kind of the accounting treatment of an intangible asset from what our hope is going forward. And I would stress hope because, obviously, in the current operating environment, it's going to be really challenging to bring a tokenized dollar, what others have referred to as a stable coin or tokenized deposit or a tokenized dollar, it's going to be tough to bring that to market anytime soon. And that is really what has driven our decision to take the impairment charge, essentially,writing down that intangible asset.

是的，喬，這是一個非常好的問題，我很高興你提出這個問題。因為我認為我們應該做的是將無形資產的會計處理與我們的希望分開。我會強調希望，因為很明顯，在當前的運營環境中，帶來代幣化美元真的很有挑戰性，其他人稱之為穩定幣或代幣化存款或代幣化美元，這將很難盡快將其推向市場。這確實是促使我們決定計提減值費用的真正原因，本質上是減記該無形資產。

And as some on the call may be aware, the accounting rules are pretty specific here on the valuing in intangible asset. And when we look at it through the lens of can we actually essentially validate the carrying value of the asset. Well, how do you do that? Will you do that by protecting some future revenue that would be generated by activity that would be supported by that asset? And with no visibility in sight here, certainly, the way we phrased it is certainly not imminent, which is contrary to how we were feeling as recently as the end of the third quarter of last year, right?

正如電話中的一些人可能知道的那樣，這裡的會計規則對無形資產的估值非常具體。當我們通過 的角度來看它時，我們實際上能否從根本上驗證資產的賬面價值。那麼，你是怎麼做到的？您是否會通過保護該資產支持的活動產生的一些未來收入來做到這一點？當然，這裡看不到可見性，我們所說的肯定不是迫在眉睫，這與我們最近在去年第三季度末的感覺相反，對吧？

And so at this point in time, the prudent thing to do is to take the valuation allowance against the asset. But it doesn't change our view that a tokenized dollar on a blockchain is -- will still have value to the market. And we believe, especially given our recent performance -- and I fully want to fully acknowledge the losses that we've incurred, fully acknowledge the reduction in force and the changes that we're making to our business, but if you do go back and look at this through the lens of the fact that we were able to satisfy 100% deposit withdrawals, of a 70% drawdown and we still have cash on hand, and you kind of look at it through that lens and then you look at, well, how does the stable client operate, I think Silvergate has demonstrated that we can in fact be a responsible operator in this space, which would include the launch of a tokenized dollar in the future, we just don't believe that to be imminent at this point.

所以在這個時候，謹慎的做法是對資產進行估值準備。但這並沒有改變我們的觀點，即區塊鏈上的代幣化美元仍然對市場有價值。我們相信，特別是考慮到我們最近的表現——我完全想完全承認我們遭受的損失，完全承認部隊的減少和我們正在對我們的業務做出的改變，但如果你真的回去從我們能夠滿足 100% 的存款提取，70% 的提款，我們手頭仍有現金這一事實的角度來看，你通過那個鏡頭來看待它，然後你看，好吧，穩定的客戶端是如何運作的，我認為 Silvergate 已經證明我們實際上可以成為這個領域的負責任的運營商，這將包括在未來推出代幣化的美元，我們只是不相信這是迫在眉睫的在此刻。

Our next question comes from Dave Rochester with Compass Point.

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

Are you guys anticipating any DTA impairments at this point? And I appreciated the securities loss discussion from earlier and we can certainly apply those marks to tangible book value to get some sense of where that is. But it'd be great if you guys had some kind of a rough estimate for where you see tangible book value per share at the end of 4Q as well.

你們是否預計此時會出現任何 DTA 損傷？我很欣賞早些時候關於證券損失的討論，我們當然可以將這些標記應用於有形賬面價值，以了解它在哪裡。但是，如果你們對第四季度末的每股有形賬面價值也有一些粗略的估計，那就太好了。

Yes. I'll turn it over to Tony in just a second, Dave. I appreciate the question. But we aren't, at this point, able to really kind of disclose where tangible book value is because of the fact that we haven't closed the books completely and we haven't gone through our year-end audit process, which is currently ongoing. Having said that, the reason we're having this call this morning is because we wanted to share with all of you the facts for what we actually could disclose, what are the things that we know here at year-end, what we know where deposits ended up. We know the actions we took to sell the securities to support the deposit withdrawals. And we know the absolute losses that were taken on those sales of securities.

是的。戴夫，我馬上轉交給托尼。我很欣賞這個問題。但在這一點上，我們還不能真正披露有形賬面價值在哪裡，因為我們還沒有完全關閉賬簿，也沒有完成年終審計流程，這是目前正在進行中。話雖如此，我們今天早上打電話的原因是因為我們想與大家分享我們實際可以披露的事實，我們在年底在這裡知道的事情是什麼，我們知道在哪裡存款結束了。我們知道我們為支持存款提款而採取的出售證券的行動。我們知道這些證券銷售的絕對損失。

But when you start getting into some of the other accounting treatments and things, that all needs to go through the normal close process. But specifically on the DTA, I don't know if -- Tony, if you want to provide any additional color on that.

但是當你開始涉及其他一些會計處理和事情時，所有這些都需要經過正常的關閉過程。但特別是關於 DTA，我不知道是否 -- 托尼，你是否想提供任何額外的顏色。

Yes, sure. And it's a good question, Dave. And certainly, as Alan said, we've disclosed the losses that we've taken on the securities and the impairment charge, and there are certainly pretax losses. And given the magnitude, there is a valuation allowance that needs to be looked at for tax purposes. And so we'll get into further detail on that when we do our earnings call a week from Tuesday.

是的，當然。這是個好問題，戴夫。當然，正如艾倫所說，我們已經披露了我們在證券和減值費用上承擔的損失，當然還有稅前損失。考慮到規模，出於稅收目的需要考慮估值津貼。因此，當我們從星期二開始每週進行一次收益電話會議時，我們將進一步詳細介紹這一點。

Okay. So it sounds like you are anticipating some kind of evaluation allowance against the DTA at this point.

好的。所以聽起來你現在正期待某種針對 DTA 的評估津貼。

Yes. Given the size of the losses, yes, we would be considering the valuation allowance.

是的。考慮到損失的規模，是的，我們會考慮估值津貼。

Our next question comes from David Chiaverini with Wedbush.

我們的下一個問題來自 Wedbush 的 David Chiaverini。

I wanted to ask about legal and regulatory risk. So there's been some class action lawsuits. Can you frame your expectation of the legal liability to Silvergate related to FTX and Alameda?

我想問一下法律和監管風險。所以出現了一些集體訴訟。您能否構想一下您對Silvergate 與FTX 和Alameda 相關的法律責任的預期？

Yes, David, I'm surprised it took this long to get to that question. But what I would say is -- and unfortunately, as you know, we probably can't say much. But I first want to restate that as a federally regulated bank, we take our compliance and risk management responsibilities very seriously. There's a lot of fud out there, a lot of misinformation, but we are a regulated financial institution operating in this space for 9 years and so we obviously take our responsibilities very seriously. As to litigation, we don't comment on pending lawsuits at all. We're certainly aware of the lawsuits, and we intend to defend against them vigorously.

是的，大衛，我很驚訝花了這麼長時間才回答這個問題。但我要說的是——不幸的是，如你所知，我們可能不能說太多。但我首先要重申，作為一家受聯邦監管的銀行，我們非常重視我們的合規和風險管理責任。那裡有很多胡說八道，很多錯誤信息，但我們是一家在這個領域經營了 9 年的受監管金融機構，因此我們顯然非常重視我們的責任。至於訴訟，我們根本不對未決訴訟發表評論。我們當然知道這些訴訟，我們打算積極防禦。

Understood. Makes sense. And then shifting over to on the regulatory risk. What has the posture of regulators been with you and Silvergate? Could there be a potential change to Silvergate's CAMELS rating?

明白了。說得通。然後轉向監管風險。監管機構對您和 Silvergate 的態度如何？ Silvergate 的 CAMELS 評級可能會發生變化嗎？

Yes. As I'm sure you're aware, no bank can disclose their CAMELS ratings. And so I'm not going to speculate on the CAMELS rating part of the question. But as to the regulatory posture, I'm sure you're aware of the joint statement that was issued this past week by the Federal Reserve, the OCC and the FDIC. And obviously, we are a Fed member bank. We've been a Fed member bank the entire -- during the duration of our operating in this space. And as we've characterized many times in the past, we engaged with our regulators very early in this initiative in 2014 when this space was bitcoin only.

是的。我相信您知道，沒有銀行可以披露其 CAMELS 評級。因此，我不會推測問題的 CAMELS 評級部分。但關於監管態勢，我相信你知道上周美聯儲、OCC 和 FDIC 發表的聯合聲明。顯然，我們是美聯儲成員銀行。在我們在這個領域開展業務期間，我們一直是美聯儲成員銀行。正如我們過去多次描述的那樣，我們在 2014 年的這項計劃中很早就與我們的監管機構進行了接觸，當時這個領域只有比特幣。

And we have been engaged with them continuously for the last 9 years, not only with the Federal Reserve, but obviously, the FDIC ensures our deposits and so they often tag along with regulatory examinations. We are state chartered in California, so we have the California DFPI as our chartering regulator. So we have regular ongoing interaction, regular examinations, targeted reviews of specific areas of -- as the regulators would deem heightened risk, whether that be capital liquidity, regulatory compliance, BSA, et cetera. And so there's certainly a lot of attention on this space right now, but we've been operating with the full transparency in this space with our regulators for the entire duration of this initiative.

在過去的 9 年裡，我們一直與他們保持聯繫，不僅是與美聯儲，而且很明顯，FDIC 確保我們的存款，因此他們經常與監管檢查一起進行。我們在加利福尼亞州獲得特許，因此我們將加利福尼亞 DFPI 作為我們的特許監管機構。因此，我們定期進行互動、定期檢查、對特定領域進行有針對性的審查——因為監管機構認為風險增加，無論是資本流動性、監管合規、BSA 等等。因此，現在這個領域肯定有很多關注，但在整個倡議期間，我們一直在與我們的監管機構在這個領域完全透明地運作。

Our next question comes from Jared Shaw with Wells Fargo Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自富國銀行證券公司的 Jared Shaw。

I guess any thought to changing the revenue structure around the SEN in light of this or in terms of like charging a fee for it? Or do you still feel that using that to purely accumulate deposits is the best use for that platform?

我想有沒有考慮過根據這一點或在收取費用方面改變 SEN 周圍的收入結構？還是你仍然覺得用那個純粹積累存款是那個平台最好的用途？

Yes. Jared, it's a fair question, and I'll kick it to Ben in just a second. Because we have mentioned in our prepared remarks and I've mentioned it here now in the Q&A section here, that we are going to be looking at all of our products. But I do want to just point out that the "gathering" of deposits is not really the way we've looked at this business for quite some time. I've talked about -- I've compared and contrasted the Silvergate strategy versus other banks that have come into the space more recently, and without at all being disparaging when looking at those other banks, what I've observed is that many banks that were attracted to this space over the last couple of years essentially we're starting where we started back in 2014.

是的。 Jared，這是一個公平的問題，我馬上就把它踢給 Ben。因為我們在準備好的評論中提到過，我現在在這裡的問答部分也提到過，我們將研究我們所有的產品。但我只想指出，“收集”存款並不是我們長期以來看待這項業務的真正方式。我已經談到 - 我已經將 Silvergate 戰略與最近進入該領域的其他銀行進行了比較和對比，並且在查看其他銀行時完全沒有貶低，我觀察到的是許多銀行在過去幾年裡被這個領域所吸引，基本上我們是從 2014 年開始的地方開始的。

When we first started this initiative, it was bitcoin only. And what we saw was that there were very few banks that understood the space that we're willing to bank participants in this ecosystem. And so we saw it as an opportunity to gather deposits to fund our other asset strategies, right? So that's where we started in 2014. For the last 5 years or so, that has not been our strategy. As we've essentially exited other -- some of the other legacy community -- or commercial banking businesses, which -- there's nothing wrong with those businesses. But as you know, it is very hard to differentiate yourself when you're offering the same loan and deposit products that everybody else is offering. So then you end up having to compete on price -- or excuse me, on service because you can't compete on price.

當我們第一次啟動這項計劃時，它只是比特幣。我們看到的是，很少有銀行了解我們願意為這個生態系統中的參與者提供銀行空間。因此，我們將其視為收集存款以資助我們其他資產策略的機會，對嗎？這就是我們從 2014 年開始的地方。在過去 5 年左右的時間裡，這並不是我們的戰略。由於我們基本上已經退出了其他 - 其他一些遺留社區 - 或商業銀行業務，這些業務沒有任何問題。但如您所知，當您提供與其他人提供的相同的貸款和存款產品時，您很難脫穎而出。所以你最終不得不在價格上競爭——或者對不起，在服務上競爭，因為你無法在價格上競爭。

Well, let me not get distracted there with that. But the point I'm trying to make, Jared, is that we do not look at this business as, "Oh, let's gather deposits to go fund our asset strategies." That is why we carry cash and securities to cover these deposits. And as to other pricing strategies, let me ask Ben to comment.

好吧，讓我不要在那里分心。但賈里德，我想說的是，我們不會將這項業務視為“哦，讓我們收集存款來為我們的資產戰略提供資金吧。”這就是我們攜帶現金和證券來支付這些存款的原因。至於其他定價策略，請讓本發表評論。

Thanks, Alan. Yes, so as we take a step back and look at the SEN, it really does provide critical market infrastructure to the digital asset industry which trades 24/7. And even despite lower deposits, we saw incredible usage of the SEN in the month of December. And for the quarter, actually finished with SEN volumes above third quarter SEN volumes, which I think speaks to the usage of it. Obviously, usage of the SEN decreased a little bit in December as deposits decreased, but it is a critical market infrastructure for our clients and something that we can -- will continue to support and develop on.

謝謝，艾倫。是的，當我們退後一步看 SEN 時，它確實為 24/7 交易的數字資產行業提供了關鍵的市場基礎設施。儘管存款減少，但我們在 12 月份看到了 SEN 的驚人使用情況。對於本季度，實際上完成的 SEN 數量高於第三季度 SEN 數量，我認為這說明了它的使用情況。顯然，由於存款減少，12 月份 SEN 的使用率略有下降，但它是我們客戶的重要市場基礎設施，我們可以繼續支持和發展。

So with that, because it is critical market infrastructure, we do think that the -- that clients will pay for it. but we're still in the process of evaluating sort of what that pricing structure looks like, and really, the whole portfolio of services that our clients are looking at.

因此，由於它是關鍵的市場基礎設施，我們確實認為 - 客戶會為此付出代價。但我們仍在評估這種定價結構的樣子，實際上，我們的客戶正在尋找的整個服務組合。

Okay. And I guess maybe just as a corollary to that. Do you think -- would you consider looking to combine with a bigger company to help get some more diversification or limit some of the stress periods of time like this put on the business? Or do you feel that being a mono line, what we call it, a crypto-only focused institution is still the most efficient structure to take?

好的。我想這可能只是一個必然結果。你認為 - 你會考慮尋求與更大的公司合併以幫助實現更多多元化或限制像這樣給業務帶來的一些壓力時期嗎？或者你覺得作為單線，我們稱之為，一個只專注於加密貨幣的機構仍然是最有效的結構？

Yes. I'll jump back in and take that one. We certainly will always consider ways to maximize shareholder value while also providing service to our customers. And I've been in this business, have been in commercial banking for 40 years and so have bought and sold many banks during my career, this business initiative is obviously unique and the very opportunity -- the circumstances that created the opportunity for us to get into the business and differentiate ourselves in the way we have has also translated into the fact that there are very few larger institutions that have been willing to look at this space.

是的。我會跳回去拿那個。我們當然會始終考慮在為客戶提供服務的同時最大化股東價值的方法。我一直從事這項業務，在商業銀行業工作了 40 年，因此在我的職業生涯中買賣過許多銀行，這項業務計劃顯然是獨一無二的，而且正是機會 - 為我們創造機會的環境進入業務並以我們的方式使自己脫穎而出也轉化為這樣一個事實，即很少有大型機構願意關注這個領域。

But you are touching on something, Jared, which is important because my experience in the banks that I've sold in the past is that when a potential acquirer is looking at a target, very often, they're looking for kind of 1 or 2 specific things, whether it's a core deposit franchise, a specific geography, a specific line of business that, that acquirer is essentially looking for. And that is one of the reasons we decided to let's just focus on being the best we can at providing services to the digital asset industry because we don't think this is going away. It's going through a period of significant stress, but we don't think it's going away.

但你提到了一些事情，賈里德，這很重要，因為我過去在我出售過的銀行中的經驗是，當潛在的收購方正在尋找目標時，通常他們正在尋找 1 或2 具體的事情，無論是核心存款特許經營權、特定的地理位置、特定的業務範圍，收購方基本上都在尋找。這就是我們決定讓我們專注於為數字資產行業提供最好服務的原因之一，因為我們認為這不會消失。它正在經歷一段巨大的壓力，但我們認為它不會消失。

And at some point in the future, it is quite likely that a larger institution that wants to get into the space will want to take a look at Silvergate because we've been operating responsibly in the space for over 9 years.

在未來的某個時候，想要進入該領域的大型機構很可能會想看看 Silvergate，因為我們在該領域負責任地運營了 9 年多。

Our next question comes from Will Nance with Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題來自高盛的 Will Nance。

First, I want to just say congratulations. I don't think that there are that many banks that could say like a 70% decline in deposits and come out of it with no operational liquidity issues. So I do think that that's payer's acknowledgment. That being said, I'm wondering if you could kind of talk around the securities portfolio that remains on the balance sheet. Is there anything you can tell us about the yield profile of that? There's been a lot of questions about tangible book value, I won't belabor that anymore. But as we think about calibrating the earnings stream going forward, maybe you can hit on what the yield profile looks like of the securities that are on the balance sheet? And similarly, if you could talk about the yield profile of the funding that you've raised during the fourth quarter.

首先，我只想表示祝賀。我不認為有那麼多銀行可以說存款下降了 70% 並且在沒有運營流動性問題的情況下擺脫困境。所以我確實認為這是付款人的承認。話雖這麼說，我想知道你是否可以談談資產負債表上的證券投資組合。你能告訴我們關於它的收益概況嗎？關於有形賬面價值的問題很多，我不再贅述。但是，當我們考慮校準未來的收益流時，也許您可以了解資產負債表上證券的收益率情況如何？同樣，如果你能談談你在第四季度籌集的資金的收益率情況。

Yes, that's probably a question best answered by Tony. But unfortunately, we're not going to be able to provide you with a lot of detail right now. Well, we certainly will provide more when we release our earnings. And then all of that detail, as you know, will be in the 10-K. The one thing that I would point you to in our earnings release is -- or excuse me, in the release this morning, is the fact that the remaining securities are all government or agency-backed. And if you were to go back and look at what the makeup of the portfolio was at the end of the third quarter, you would have seen that there were quite a few munis in there as well. And so you can kind of deduce that we sold more of the longer-duration securities that would have been fixed rate.

是的，這可能是 Tony 最能回答的問題。但不幸的是，我們現在無法為您提供很多細節。好吧，當我們發布收益時，我們當然會提供更多。如您所知，所有這些細節都將包含在 10-K 中。在我們的收益發布中，我要向您指出的一件事是——或者對不起，在今天早上的發布中，剩餘的證券都是政府或機構支持的。如果你回頭看看第三季度末投資組合的構成，你會發現其中也有不少市政債券。因此，您可以推斷出我們賣出了更多固定利率的長期證券。

And if you just step back and think about -- and by the way, I also want to thank you for the acknowledgment on the fact that we survived this deposit, essentially won. That's what other people have been calling it. So -- but essentially, Will, we had a playbook that we hoped we would never have to execute, right, which is what do you do if you have sustained deposit withdrawals. Well, you -- initially, you want to make sure you have a securities portfolio that is high grade, high quality, high credit quality that is pledgeable so that you can borrow against it. So as I said in the prepared remarks, that's what we did first.

如果你退後一步想想——順便說一下，我也想感謝你承認我們在這筆存款中倖存下來，基本上贏了。其他人一直這麼稱呼它。所以 - 但本質上，威爾，我們有一個劇本，我們希望我們永遠不必執行，對，如果你有持續的存款取款，你就會這樣做。好吧，你——最初，你想確保你有一個高質量、高質量、高信用質量的證券投資組合，它是可抵押的，這樣你就可以以此為抵押借款。因此，正如我在準備好的發言中所說，這就是我們首先做的。

Not knowing whether the deposit withdrawals were going to be temporary, we borrowed against our securities portfolio. That's what it was there for. It was all pledgeable, high quality, and so we borrowed against it. But then to your point, when you're borrowing, you're borrowing at current rates, right? So if the securities portfolio was yielding a lower level at the end of the third quarter because it had been put in place and some of it was longer duration put in place in the past, then you could just connect the dots, right? We were borrowing at a higher level all in because the Fed had been raising rates so rapidly during 2022.

不知道存款提取是否是暫時的，我們藉了我們的證券投資組合。這就是它的目的。這一切都是可抵押的，高質量的，所以我們藉了它。但就你的觀點而言，當你借款時，你是按當前利率借款，對吧？因此，如果證券投資組合在第三季度末的收益率較低，因為它已經到位並且其中一些在過去的期限更長，那麼你可以把這些點聯繫起來，對吧？由於美聯儲在 2022 年的加息速度如此之快，我們一直在以更高的水平借貸。

Once we get to the point where it's like, okay, well, this is going to be lower for longer and we're still in a rising rate environment, we need to protect capital, both now and in the future. How do we make sure we're protecting the future capital? Well, it's by selling the longest duration right now so that we can preserve the earnings power and the mark-to-market on the capital going forward with the remaining portfolio. So without diving into the weed on -- specifically on your question, hopefully, that provides you with enough color.

一旦我們達到這樣的地步，好吧，好吧，這將在更長時間內保持較低水平並且我們仍處於利率上升的環境中，我們現在和將來都需要保護資本。我們如何確保保護未來的資本？好吧，這是通過現在出售最長的久期，這樣我們就可以在剩餘的投資組合中保持盈利能力和按市值計價的資本。因此，在不深入討論雜草的情況下——特別是在你的問題上，希望能為你提供足夠的顏色。

Yes. No, that is very helpful. I appreciate that. And obviously, I'm sure things have not been fully finalized on the security sales in the first quarter, but I think you gave some help for detail there about how you thought about the sequence of events post the deposit decline. Could you talk about any kind of guidepost or guide rails around how you're thinking about the appropriate level of securities on the balance sheet going forward? I mean is it your intention to match one-for-one deposit to cash, and we should be thinking about significant reductions in the securities portfolio? Or I guess, maybe you can speak to kind of the mix of securities versus cash once the balance sheet restructuring is kind of fully finished.

是的。不，那很有幫助。我很感激。顯然，我確信第一季度證券銷售的事情還沒有完全敲定，但我認為你在那裡提供了一些幫助，詳細說明你如何看待存款下降後的事件順序。您能否談談您如何考慮未來資產負債表上適當的證券水平？我的意思是你打算將一對一的存款與現金相匹配，我們應該考慮大幅減少證券投資組合嗎？或者我想，一旦資產負債表重組完全完成，也許你可以談談證券與現金的混合。

Yes. Unfortunately, Will, we're kind of getting into guidance there. What our goal is -- for today, is to tell you exactly where we are, what we've done to get here. And then as I said in my prepared remarks, we'll continue to evaluate our balance sheet and liquidity management needs, but it's going to depend on deposit flows and customer behavior. And so I think you can look at what we've done so far, look at where we are now, but it's anybody's guess as to what happens in the future as it relates to our customer behavior.

是的。不幸的是，威爾，我們有點進入那裡的指導。我們的目標是——今天，是告訴你我們在哪裡，我們做了什麼才能到達這裡。然後正如我在準備好的發言中所說，我們將繼續評估我們的資產負債表和流動性管理需求，但這將取決於存款流量和客戶行為。所以我認為你可以看看我們到目前為止所做的事情，看看我們現在所處的位置，但對於未來會發生什麼與我們的客戶行為有關，這是任何人的猜測。

It's our hope that we've kind of reached a level with deposits that are going to be sustainable. As Ben mentioned, we haven't had any customers come to us and say, "Hey, we're closing our account, and we're leaving this ecosystem." But our customers have taken a huge pause, and we're going to have to digest that, and will make the appropriate actions going forward.

我們希望我們已經達到了可持續存款的水平。正如本所說，我們還沒有任何客戶來找我們說，“嘿，我們要關閉我們的賬戶，我們要離開這個生態系統。”但是我們的客戶已經停頓了很長時間，我們將不得不消化這一點，並將採取適當的行動向前推進。

Our next question comes from Manan Gosalia with Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Manan Gosalia。

I just wanted to follow up maybe on the prior line of questioning around what balance sheet should look like going into next year? Just given the drawdown in deposits, can you talk about how you're thinking about the SEN Leverage business? Do you expect to shrink that business over time? And also, do you have the option to cancel some of those $800 million or so of undrawn commitments that are there on your book right now?

我只是想跟進之前關於明年資產負債表應該是什麼樣子的問題？鑑於存款減少，您能否談談您對 SEN 槓桿業務的看法？您是否希望隨著時間的推移縮小該業務？而且，您是否可以選擇取消您賬簿上目前約 8 億美元的未提取承諾中的一部分？

On the SEN Leverage book, one, where we're going to continue to offer the product; and two, do we have the ability to cancel. So again, we're not providing specific guidance on specific products right now. We have said that we're going to look at our entire product portfolio with a view of are the products that we offer profitable and is there a good product market fit. What I can tell you is that, that product continues to perform exactly as designed through all the periods of ups and downs in the price of bitcoin. We have control of the collateral through our custodial partners and we have the ability to liquidate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week if our customers do not maintain the appropriate margin. We have not yet had to ever do a forced liquidation and the product portfolio continues to perform as agreed.

在 SEN 槓桿一書中，我們將繼續提供該產品；第二，我們是否有能力取消。同樣，我們現在不提供針對特定產品的具體指導。我們已經說過，我們將審視我們的整個產品組合，以了解我們提供的產品是否有利可圖，以及產品是否適合市場。我可以告訴你的是，該產品在比特幣價格的所有漲跌期間都繼續完全按照設計執行。我們通過我們的託管合作夥伴控制抵押品，如果我們的客戶沒有保持適當的保證金，我們有能力每週 7 天、每天 24 小時清算。我們還沒有進行過強制清算，產品組合繼續按約定執行。

So -- and as we've also reported the fact that our commitments are slightly in excess of $1 billion, we've been pretty -- we've been hovering around that $300 million range in terms of outstandings for the last couple of quarters. And I think that's reflective of the fact that there's just not a lot of activity and the related conviction in the bitcoin space at the moment.

所以——正如我們還報告的事實，我們的承諾略高於 10 億美元，我們一直很漂亮——過去幾個季度，我們一直在 3 億美元左右徘徊。 .我認為這反映了一個事實，即目前比特幣領域沒有太多的活動和相關的信念。

Got it. And separately, I appreciate all the comments around compliance and AML and KYC. And as you said, there's a lot of misinformation out there. So I was hoping you can provide a general overview on the steps you take on the AML/KYC side before you onboard a customer? And if you can, any color on how much visibility you would have as a bank to transactions related to FTX and Alameda from both?

知道了。另外，我感謝所有關於合規性、AML 和 KYC 的評論。正如你所說，那裡有很多錯誤信息。所以我希望您能提供一個總體概述，說明您在吸引客戶之前在 AML/KYC 方面採取的步驟？如果可以的話，您作為銀行對 FTX 和 Alameda 相關交易的可見度有多少顏色？

Now this question has been really well covered in the past. We obviously take our -- we take our -- what am I trying to say here? Sorry, I got distracted. We (inaudible) KYC requirements, which includes the initial onboarding. It then also includes monitoring transactions on an ongoing basis. And so a lot of -- as you said, the misinformation out there is candidly very frustrating. We follow the Bank Secrecy Act, the USA Patriot Act for every account that we open and we conduct ongoing monitoring.

現在這個問題在過去已經被很好地涵蓋了。我們顯然接受我們的——我們接受我們的——我想在這裡說什麼？對不起，我分心了。我們（聽不清）KYC 要求，其中包括初始入職。然後，它還包括持續監控交易。所以很多 - 正如你所說，那裡的錯誤信息坦率地說非常令人沮喪。對於我們開設的每個賬戶，我們都遵守《銀行保密法》和《美國愛國者法》，並進行持續監控。

But to your point, to part of your question, we can only see what we can see in terms of what is coming in and out of Silvergate. We don't have visibility into what's going on with other banks.

但就你的觀點而言，對於你的部分問題，我們只能看到進出 Silvergate 的內容。我們無法了解其他銀行的情況。

Our next question comes from the line of Mark Palmer with BTIG.

我們的下一個問題來自 BTIG 的 Mark Palmer。

Signature Bank during the fourth quarter said that they would be pulling back from the digital asset business, reducing the amount of deposits that they had intentionally. How much overlap is there from digital asset clients using the SEN on the one hand and using Signet from Signature on the other hand? And do you anticipate that you're going to see some movement as a result of that announcement?

Signature Bank 在第四季度表示他們將退出數字資產業務，減少他們有意持有的存款數額。一方面使用 SEN 和另一方面使用 Signature 的 Signet 的數字資產客戶有多少重疊？您是否預計您會因為該公告而看到一些變化？

Yes, Mark, it's a good question. And I think I'll ask Ben to comment. The only thing I'll say as an overriding statement is that it's certainly -- we're not privy to Signature's business in general other than what they say publicly. But we are aware that many of our clients use both the SEN and Signet, and that's not surprising in the fact that there are very few banks that operate in this space and that most of our clients don't want to have a single service provider, because then that provides a single point of failure for their business. But Ben, do you want to comment on -- any more on Mark's question?

是的，馬克，這是個好問題。我想我會請本發表評論。作為壓倒一切的聲明，我唯一要說的是，除了他們公開發表的內容外，我們對 Signature 的一般業務並不知情。但我們知道我們的許多客戶同時使用 SEN 和 Signet，這並不奇怪，因為很少有銀行在這個領域運營，而且我們的大多數客戶不希望擁有單一的服務提供商，因為那樣會為他們的業務提供單點故障。但是 Ben，你想對 Mark 的問題再發表評論嗎？

Yes. I think the point that Alan made is exactly right in that this is an under -- it's an underbanked industry. And I know that our clients are always concerned about losing their banking relationships or having limited banking relationships. And despite what's been going on in the fourth quarter, our clients have been very supportive and proactive actually in reaching out to us and providing their conviction towards Silvergate and their understanding of the need for banks to be in the space.

是的。我認為艾倫提出的觀點是完全正確的，因為這是一個不足的行業——這是一個銀行不足的行業。我知道我們的客戶總是擔心失去他們的銀行關係或銀行關係有限。儘管第四季度發生了什麼，但我們的客戶實際上非常支持和積極主動地與我們聯繫，並表達了他們對 Silvergate 的信念以及他們對銀行進入該領域的必要性的理解。

And so we don't -- I think the short answer is we don't really see anything changing there. We think that customers will continue to use Silvergate and the SEN as well as our competitors because they understand how critical banking relationships are to their overall business. So I don't think we see really any change there coming.

所以我們沒有——我認為簡短的回答是我們沒有真正看到那裡有任何變化。我們認為客戶將繼續使用 Silvergate 和 SEN 以及我們的競爭對手，因為他們了解銀行關係對其整體業務的重要性。所以我不認為我們真的看到任何變化。

And I know that the question regarding the wholesale funding was asked, but in terms of the interest rates associated with the advances from the Federal Home Loan Bank and the brokered CDs, how should we think about the interest rates that are associated with those? And how are you thinking about those balances over the course of 2023? Of course, as you mentioned, you're going to be selling some securities as a means of reducing the wholesale balances, how should we think about that?

我知道有人問了有關批發融資的問題，但就與聯邦住房貸款銀行和經紀 CD 的預付款相關的利率而言，我們應該如何考慮與這些相關的利率？您如何看待 2023 年的這些餘額？當然，正如您提到的，您將出售一些證券作為減少批發餘額的一種方式，我們應該如何考慮？

Yes. Tony, do you want to jump in since I've kind of already addressed the question, but maybe you can take it from a slightly different angle.

是的。托尼，你想插嘴嗎，因為我已經解決了這個問題，但也許你可以從稍微不同的角度來看待它。

Yes. No, I think, Mark, as Alan had said previously, the funding -- the wholesale funding is more recent, and therefore, would track more in line with current rates. And it's relatively short in terms of duration. So from that perspective, it's early in the year to -- as Alan has said previously, to kind of walk forward several quarters. But as we look out at this point in time, we're signaling in our press release today that there's a portion of the securities that we fully mark to market that we intend to sell in the short term.

是的。不，我認為，馬克，正如艾倫之前所說，資金——批發資金是最近的，因此，將更符合當前的利率。而且持續時間相對較短。因此，從這個角度來看，今年年初——正如艾倫之前所說，要向前邁進幾個季度。但就目前而言，我們在今天的新聞稿中表示，我們打算在短期內出售部分完全按市值計價的證券。

So I think the way Alan had categorized it previously, if you -- just to kind of go back as to what we've said, we had a portfolio of very high quality, fully pledgeable securities, relatively short duration. And directionally, it's now of even shorter duration. And as we said, the securities that are left are all U.S. government or agency securities. And therefore, you can presume we've sold the municipal bonds that were fixed rate. So the matching between the securities and the funding is more in line, given what's transpired in the fourth quarter. And that's probably all the color I can give today, and we'll provide more details with earnings in 1.5 weeks from now.

所以我認為艾倫之前對其進行分類的方式，如果你 - 只是為了回到我們所說的話，我們擁有一個非常高質量，完全可抵押證券的投資組合，持續時間相對較短。在方向上，它現在的持續時間更短。正如我們所說，剩下的證券都是美國政府或機構證券。因此，你可以假設我們已經賣出了固定利率的市政債券。因此，考慮到第四季度發生的情況，證券與資金之間的匹配更為一致。這可能是我今天能給出的所有顏色，我們將在 1.5 週後提供更多詳細信息和收益。

Our final question today comes from George Sutton with Craig-Hallum.

我們今天的最後一個問題來自 George Sutton 和 Craig-Hallum。

Long call, so just one quick question relative to Diem. Just to make sure I understand, are there still people on the project? Is this still something you are moving forward with internally? That's it for me.

長話短說，所以只有一個關於吳庭豔的簡短問題。只是為了確保我明白，這個項目還有人嗎？這仍然是你在內部推進的事情嗎？對我來說就是這樣。

Yes, George, appreciate the question. There are still people on the project as we sit here today. We will obviously have to continue to evaluate, as we do with the rest of our business, the expenses that we're incurring for the products that we're offering as well as the products that we contemplate offering. And so as it stands today, it's largely an accounting issue that we're dealing with, but we're also very mindful of the fact that there are significant headwinds to launching something in the near future. And so we'll have to continue to look at the expenses that we're incurring for that hopeful outcome in the future.

是的，喬治，感謝這個問題。我們今天坐在這裡時，仍然有人參與該項目。我們顯然必須繼續評估，就像我們對其他業務所做的那樣，我們為我們提供的產品以及我們考慮提供的產品所產生的費用。因此，就目前而言，這主要是我們正在處理的一個會計問題，但我們也非常注意這樣一個事實，即在不久的將來推出一些東西會遇到重大阻力。因此，我們將不得不繼續審視我們為未來取得有希望的結果而產生的費用。

And I think with that, I suggest Emily will -- you already mentioned that, that was the last question. So I just want to, once again, thank everybody for joining us today on such short notice, and we look forward to sharing more when we report our fourth quarter results in a couple of weeks. Thank you, everybody.

我認為，我建議 Emily 會——你已經提到過，這是最後一個問題。因此，我只想再次感謝大家今天在如此短的時間內加入我們，我們期待在幾週後報告第四季度業績時分享更多信息。謝謝大家。

Thank you, everyone, for joining us today. This concludes our call, and you may now disconnect your lines.

謝謝大家今天加入我們。我們的通話到此結束，您現在可以斷開您的線路。