key takeaways
- House Majority Whip Tom Emmer questioned FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg about Operation Choke Point 2.0.
- Emmer cited in his letter several instances where banks had been pressured by federal regulators to stop providing their services to crypto companies.
- Emmer called the regulatory strategy “lazy and destructive.”
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Rep. Tom Emmer sent a letter harshly questioning FDIC Chairman Gruenberg following reports that federal regulators were trying to separate the cryptocurrency industry from the banking sector.
A lazy and destructive regulatory strategy
Crypto has important allies in Congress.
Today, the House Majority Whips Tom Emmer (R-MN) sent a letter ask the president of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Martin Gruenberg, to address rumors that the FDIC and other federal entities have been pressuring the banking industry to stop providing services to the crypto industry.
“Recent reports indicate that federal financial regulators have effectively armed their authorities over the past few months to purge legal digital asset entities and opportunities from the United States,” the letter said. Emmer went on to list several cases, including a joint statement on Jan. 3 by the Federal Reserve, FDIC, and OCC that discouraged banks from holding cryptocurrency or servicing cryptocurrency businesses on a “safe and sound” basis. “, in which the Biden administration appeared to have illegally targeted the crypto industry.
“The Administration’s demonstrated effort to choke digital assets out of the US financial system is a lazy and destructive regulatory strategy that is stalling innovation and subjecting US users of digital assets to less sophisticated regulatory jurisdictions,” Emmer said.
The congressman proceeded to bluntly ask whether the FDIC had instructed banks not to provide services to crypto businesses and whether the regulator had threatened banks with more “onerous” oversight should they fail to comply with the instructions. The FDIC had until May 24 to respond.
Tom Emmer has proven to be one of the staunchest allies of cryptocurrency in Congress over the past year. In July 2022 Emmer struck the Securities and Exchange Commission for its “power-hungry” approach to crypto regulation; also sent a letter interrogation Treasury’s reasons for banning the Tornado Cash privacy protocol.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this article owned BTC, ETH, and various other crypto assets.