Malvern-based Customers Bank was one of many smaller banks who jumped into the cryptocurrency pool—landing with a big splash last year—but are now dealing with the consequences of their plunge, writes David Benoit for the Wall Street Journal.

When larger bank corporations held off on cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, it was time for small lenders to make it their own. Business was booming when Customers entered the market less than a year ago; deposits and stocks soared, and Customers’ stock tripled.

Their payments system has brought in around $2 billion, which is a fairly large for a bank holding $17 billion in deposits.

The volatility of the crypto is still something to fear, as Christopher Smalley, the bank’s head of digital banking, has seen their stock fall about 40 percent this year. Yet, their crypto-linked deposits continue to grow slowly as they made adjustments to their anti-money-laundering team and have been able to dish out loans back by their clients’ digital dollars.

“It’s worth us taking the risk that there will be negative news events or additional regulatory scrutiny to get these very large deposits,” said Smalley. “We’re prepared for an extinction-level event where Bitcoin would go to zero.”

Read more about Customers Bank in the Wall Street Journal.