U.S. House Probes Crypto Debanking Amid FDIC's Alleged Role

Dec 6, 2024, 02:03 PM

The House Financial Services Committee is investigating the debanking of the cryptocurrency industry following testimony from the CEOs of Stellar and Anchorage Digital. These executives revealed that their companies, despite being federally-regulated, were explicitly dropped by their banks due to their involvement in cryptocurrency. Rep. French Hill emphasized that legal businesses in the U.S. should have the freedom to access banking services. The investigation comes in light of allegations that the U.S. government, through the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), has been instructing banks to distance themselves from crypto businesses. Documents obtained by Coinbase's legal team through a lawsuit against the FDIC show that the regulator asked banks in 2022 to pause all crypto asset-related activities, citing regulatory uncertainty. This move is seen by some in the crypto industry as part of what they call 'Operation Chokepoint 2.0,' an alleged effort to restrict crypto businesses' access to banking services.