Customers Bank Makes Bold Move with Cryptocurrency Clients

Customers Bank, the $19.1 billion subsidiary of Customers Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE: CUBI), today released a partial list of inaugural institutional crypto clients. The clients identified are among the premier cryptocurrency and digital asset institutions, making the bank one of the nation’s leading financial services providers in the growing global crypto industry.

“We’re proud to be attracting these best-in-class organizations,” said Sam Sidhu, President & CEO of Customers Bank, “and are confident that we can provide the much-demanded fiat currency ‘on and off ramp’ for institutional clients in the crypto ecosystem,” He explained, “Customers Bank is concentrating on agents making key institutional B2B transactions.” Customers Bank has already onboarded key exchanges, OTC desks, funds, liquidity providers and other enterprise grade businesses in the crypto ecosystem.

The bank today announced its first clients including: Genesis Global Trading a leading digital currency prime brokerage, Blockfills with a digital asset trading platform already serving over 600 institutional clients across 50 countries, GSR a global leader in digital asset trading executing over 1 million trades daily, and SFOX, one of the largest crypto meta-exchanges providing the deepest price discovery, optimal execution, and institutional trading prime services.

Customers Bank is using its own branded CBIT^TM token to convey U.S. dollars between commercial banking customers. The CBIT^TM token is used in conjunction with the TassatPay^TM payments platform to effect blockchain-backed, real-time instant B2B payments between two Customers Bank clients. While clients benefit from improved capital efficiency due to the speed and security of real-time blockchain transactions, the bank will enjoy the benefit of significant low-cost deposits providing tremendous liquidity and expanded net interest margins to fuel aggressive lending growth.

“We are excited to see more banks embracing our continually evolving industry,” said Michael Moro, CEO of Genesis. “Customers Bank’s commitment to providing valuable services to the crypto community is a welcome development.”

“The platform offered by Customers Bank fits with our vision, based on decades of experience in institutional trading, that there must be a bank partner and connection to traditional industries that can benefit from crypto-based transactions,” said Nick Hammer, co-founder and CEO of Blockfills.

Customers Bank has over the past year transformed itself from a Mid-Atlantic-based community bank to a digital-forward financial services institution by partnering with best-in-class fintechs partners.

“As the trading needs of institutional investors in digital assets become increasingly sophisticated, we need a partner to provide strong risk management capabilities and a crypto-friendly outlook,” said Trey Griggs, CEO of GSR USA. “Customers Bank is the ideal partner for us as we look to increase investor confidence and participation in the digital asset market given their extensive experience as a well-established, commercial bank.”

Christopher Smalley, Head of Digital Banking at Customers said, “These initial four partners are uniquely positioned in the cryptocurrency ecosystem to attract additional customers to our full-service banking platform.” Prospective institutional crypto customers can reach Customers Bank for more information at https://www.customersbank.com/business-banking/instant-payment/

Sidhu believes that the number of cryptocurrency/digital asset clients and the volume of transactions will grow exponentially in the months ahead. And this is just the first of many industry verticals that will be served he says. “We see very beneficial applications for real-time B2B payments options in commercial real estate, healthcare, hospitality, insurance, accounting, alternative energy, and manufacturing supply chains. We believe the demand for our technology will grow and expand. Moreover, the payments system will create cross-sell opportunities as the enhanced profitability of users prompts them borrow capital for expansion and growth.”

Akbar Thobhani, CEO & Co-Founder at SFOX commented, “SFOX works with many leading and emerging institutions in the crypto market, and we are excited to partner with Customers Bank, one of the most forward-thinking banks, to provide these institutions a trusted end-to-end solution that grants access to global crypto markets from a single account.”

The bank announced $1.5 billion of zero-cost deposits from crypto business in its Q3 earnings report issued October 28. Sidhu said CUBI will report further on the adoption and success of its real time payments service starting with 2022 earnings reports.

About Customers Bank

Customers Bank is a full-service bank with $19.1 billion in assets at September 30, 2021, and a wholly owned Customers Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:CUBI). A member of the Federal Reserve System with deposits insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Customers Bank is an equal opportunity lender that provides a range of banking and lending services to small and medium-sized businesses, professionals, individuals, and families. Services and products are available wherever permitted by law through mobile-first apps, online portals, and a network of offices and branches. Customers Bank provides blockchain-based digital payments via the Customers Bank Instant Token (CBIT^TM) which allows clients to make real-time payments in US dollars, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. More at www.customersbank.com.

About Genesis

Genesis is a full-service digital currency prime brokerage providing a single point of access for select qualified individuals and global institutional investors. Genesis combines unrivaled operational excellence, a seamless user experience, and best-in-class client service to provide the full suite of services global investors require to manage their digital asset portfolios. The firm offers sophisticated market participants a fully integrated platform to trade, borrow, lend, and custody digital assets, creating new opportunities for yield while increasing capital efficiency for counterparties. Genesis is a wholly owned subsidiary of Digital Currency Group (DCG), one of the largest private investors in blockchain and digital asset companies. For more information on Genesis, please visit www.genesistrading.com and follow @GenesisTrading on Twitter.

About Blockfills

Blockfills is a disruptive financial technology firm dedicated to the provision of end-to-end solutions for global crypto currency market participants. The Company has successfully built and deployed a cutting-edge multi-asset technology platform that solves major liquidity fragmentation problems in the marketplace. The platform provides price discovery, price aggregation, electronic order matching, smart order routing and trade reconciliation solutions for institutions in the digital spot, derivatives, and lending markets. In addition, Blockfills provides software as a service solution that simplify all aspects of the trade lifecycle for institutions in the sector. Lean more at: https://www.blockfills.com/

About GSR

Founded in 2013, GSR is a global leader in digital asset trading specializing in providing liquidity, risk management and structured products to institutional participants in the digital asset ecosystem. Its team of veteran finance and technology executives from Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Two Sigma, Citadel and Blackstone, among others, has developed one of the world’s fastest and most robust trading platforms. For more information, visit gsr.io.

About SFOX

SFOX, or San Francisco Open Exchange, is one of the largest cryptocurrency prime dealers for institutional traders. Founded in 2014, SFOX gives clients an edge through an end-to-end proprietary platform that provides custody, treasury management, liquidity, algorithmic best execution, and unified reporting via one connection, one counterpart, and one workflow. Learn more at: SFOX.com.

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