Crypto finally gets its U.S. IPO, and the Cliff of Valinor

And just like that, a bank holding company that also serves more than 700 crypto clients is now public on the NYSE. Silvergate Capital (Ticker: SI), a small Southern California community bank that pivoted to being a core service provider to digital currency funds and exchanges five years ago, listed its shares on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday, and finished its first day of trading up ~4% — which hey, has to count for something given the state of performance for most IPOs in 2019.

In what has been an underrated theme of 2019, the public listing of Silvergate marks yet another example of new ways for broader investors to gain awareness, and dare I say forms of exposure, into the crypto market. This isn't your parents' LongFin or Long Island Blockchain Corp, but a very tangible business model built around servicing exchanges, funds, and other companies within crypto. It also marks the first Digital Currency Group portfolio company to go public in the U.S.