Shares of Signature Bank SBNY, -13.67% sank 12.8% in afternoon trading Monday, enough to pace the S&P 500’s SPX, -3.88% decliners, as the New York-based bank was hurting from a broad selloff in the financial sector and from the plunge in bitcoin BTCUSD, -2.75% toward an 18-month low. The stock was headed for the biggest one-day selloff since it tumbled 13.0% on March 20, 2020, and the lowest close since Feb. 1, 2021. The stock was suffering from the selloff in bitcoin as many on Wall Street see it as a cryptocurrency play, as the bank has a digital payments platform, named Signet, and because it offers a loan product collateralized by cryptocurrencies. And bitcoin tumbled 18.8% as troubles for a major cryptocurrency exchanges fueled investor jitters. Also weighing on Signature Bank, the SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF XLF, -2.98% sank 2.4% toward a 16-month low, as surging inflation and interest rates fueled recession fears.
