US Senator Pat Toomey accuses FDIC of pressuring banks over crypto ties

US Senator Pat Toomey of the Republican Party demanded from FDIC to confirm or deny reports of pressure on banks over dealings with cryptocurrency companies.

The letter was addressed to the acting chair of the agency, Martin Gruenberg. The senator noted that his office had received information from sources indicating improper actions by the regulator.

“According to informants whom we have spoken to, FDIC staff in the Washington, DC headquarters are urging the agency’s regional offices to send letters to a number of banks asking them to refrain from expanding relationships with cryptocurrency-related organisations, without providing any legal basis,” the letter states.

Toomey said that sources consider the FDIC’s actions beyond its powers. Specifically, agency staff allegedly recommended downgrading the credit classification of a loan extended to an unnamed crypto company.

In the letter, the senator also noted the FDIC’s involvement in the U.S. Department of Justice initiative known as Choke Point. In its implementation, banks were pressured to avoid dealing with “legal but politically unfavourable” businesses, Toomey said.

By August 30, FDIC leadership must answer the following questions:

• whether officials actually asked regional offices to refrain from banks working with crypto companies;
• whether such a fact occurred on June 6, 2022;
• on what basis the FDIC could have required financial institutions to suspend or end relationships with industry participants.

In February, Gruenberg said that digital assets and the assessment of risks associated with them have become among the FDIC’s top priorities for 2022.

Toomey served as a co-author of a crypto-friendly amendment to provisions in the bipartisan infrastructure package.

Earlier he called for adapting legislation to digital assets and criticized the SEC’s approach to regulating the industry. SEC

In July, Representative Tom Emmer accused the Commission of “unethical treatment” of the crypto industry.

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