The post FDIC’s ‘pause letters’ reveal Operation Choke Point 2.0 tactics against crypto banking appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer (CLO), Paul Grewal, has called out the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) for continuing an anti-crypto agenda. Grewal took to X to accuse the regulator of actively impeding banks that had expressed interest in pursuing crypto from doing so. He said the exchange was privy to correspondences in which the watchdog urged banks to delay venturing into or steer clear of crypto-related activities. Grewal added that Coinbase had come into the information after it sued the FDIC for compliance with the exchange’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. In that request, the crypto trading platform had sought clarity on the pause letters the federal agency sent banks as part of its Operation Choke Point 2.0 initiative. Grewal described the letters’ contents as a shameful example of the FDIC’s attempt to block legitimate American companies from accessing finances. He wrote: Slowly but surely, the picture is becoming clear. After we sued, @FDICgov finally started giving us information related to our FOIA request about the pause letters it sent to financial institutions as part of Operation Chokepoint 2.0. In short, the contents are a shameful example… — paulgrewal.eth (@iampaulgrewal) November 1, 2024 The FDIC had expressed fears over crypto projects  The FDIC letters show an agency keen on dissuading certain financial institutions from entering the crypto business. For instance, Eric T. Guyot, the body’s Assistant Regional Director, advised one bank to “pause all crypto asset-related activity ” on March 11, 2022. That delay, he suggested, would allow the agency to assess the proposed crypto product’s safety and soundness.  Likewise, on March 25, 2022, Jessica A. Kaemingk, an acting FDIC Regional Director, urged another bank’s board to rethink its proposed crypto-asset product. She voiced concerns about the program’s “safety and soundness” while requesting additional papers to confirm compliance. On…

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Filed under: News - @ November 2, 2024 5:16 am