By
Bena Ilyas
April 25th, 2024
Blue Ridge Bankshares noted it is working with the duo of BluePoint, a national ATM operator, and LibertyX, a Bitcoin ATM software provider, to enable Bitcoin purchase and redemption at 19 of its machines in the United States.
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has halted the trading of the shares of Blue Ridge Bankshares Inc (NYSEAMERICAN: BRBS) after the company’s stock began experiencing volatility which spiked more than 13%. As reported by Coindesk, the company confirmed the halt which came following its announcement to allow users to purchase Bitcoin from its Automated Teller Machines (ATM).
The halt by the New York Stock Exchange was tagged the Limit Up/Limit Down (LULD) type which is designed to prevent trades in National Market System (NMS) Stocks from occurring outside specified price bands. The LULD halt is set at a percentage level above and below the average reference price of a security over the preceding five-minute period.
“NYSE told us the company’s stock reacted to the news and due to the volatility, a Limit Up/Limit Down (LULD) trading halt was triggered,” said Blue Ridge external spokesperson Jon Amar. “The LULD is a 5-minute trading pause. Currently, the stock is trading up approximately 5% on 75K shares vs. its 30 Day ADV of 10K shares.”
At the time of writing, Blue Ridge Bankshares stock is down 4.27% in the pre-market, having closed Wednesday trading session with a 7.16% gain to $21.10 per share.
Blue Ridge Bankshares’ Proposed ATM-Enabled Bitcoin Service that Caused Stock Volatility
Blue Ridge Bankshares Inc noted it is working with the duo of BluePoint, a national ATM operator, and LibertyX, a Boston-based bitcoin ATM software provider, to enable Bitcoin purchase and redemption at 19 of its machines in the United States.
As cryptocurrencies, particularly Bitcoin, come into mainstream adoption around the world, banking institutions are exploring ways to be an early adopter of services backing to support the coin. The move by Blue Ridge Bank is one of such moves and the firm said that integrating the service doesn’t affect the rest of its business activities.
“You do have growing interest in cryptocurrencies,” said Brian Plum, CEO at Blue Ridge Bank “It doesn’t diminish what we can do with our current ATMs, so it’s not like this was a matter of substitution.”
Despite the lack of full regulatory acceptance of Bitcoin ATMs on the grounds that it can aid illicit financial transactions, Blue Ridge Bank is poised to embrace and offer more crypto services in compliance with what the law permits in the near future, and after developing the right infrastructure for the services.
“We are open and pursuing what makes the most sense for us based on economics and the regulatory environment,” Plum said, adding that “It is a volatile space. If you think about commercial banking it is anything but a volatile business.… A lot of what’s happening in crypto right now is exciting, but you need to have the infrastructure in place.”
Other news on cryptocurrencies can be found here.