One of the first banks to dive into crypto is exiting the business, citing 'recent developments' in the market

• Metropolitan Commercial Bank says the firm will terminate its crypto-related offerings for clients.
• The bank was one of the first to jump into the nascent digital asset market.
• The firm cited changes in the regulatory environment as part of its decision.

One of the first banks to dive into crypto is exiting the business.

Metropolitan Commercial Bank's holding company says its the firm will wind down its crypto-related offerings this year, according to a statement on Monday.

The New York-based bank, which about $6.4 billion in assets, pointed to "recent developments" in the industry, along with a changing regulatory environment as a part of their decision to leave the nascent space.

"Today's announcement of our exit from the crypto-currency related asset vertical represents the culmination of a process that began in 2017, when we decided to pivot away from crypto and not grow the business," Mark DeFazio, president and CEO of Metropolitan Commercial Bank, said.

The bank doesn't hold any cryptocurrency on its balance sheet, nor does it hold any outstanding loans with its crypto-related clients.

Metropolitan Commercial Bank "expects minimal financial impact" from the move. It has four active crypto-related clients that make up roughly 1.5% of total revenues and 6% of all deposits.

"Crypto-related clients, assets and deposits have never represented a material portion of the Company's business and have never exposed the Company to material financial risks," DeFazio added.

Metropolitan Commercial Bank become one of the first traditional financial institutions to begin serving the nascent space. One of its initiatives included a crypto debit card, which it rolled out in 2018.

"We're certainly very interested in growing this vertical," Nick Rosenberg, the financial institution's chief technology officer, told CoinDesk of the bank's clientele in 2018. "We've learned that it's a serious industry. There are some very smart people involved. There are some very interesting ideas coming out that could really change the way people do business."