Crypto, Trump, GOP LEADERSO GANF UP on FDIC nad debaning

Nathan McCouley, general director of Anchorage Digital, wants everyone to know what happened to his cryptographic company in 2023 during Biden administration.

“Our story is quite funny,” said McCouley CNBC in an interview with a testimony in the Senate hearingentitled “Examination of actual influence of debaning in America” ​​at the beginning of this month. “We had a bank with whom we had growing relations for many years, which basically decided to disable our bank account in decade.”

No explanation. No warning. After two years of working with the bank, access was cut off. He did not mention the bank, and the spokesman Anchorage said that the company refuses him.

McCauley peers in the cryptographic industry shared similar sagas about blocking the American financial system, loss of access to wages, control and payment processing. They are called industry leaders “Operation Savika 2.0” Alleged coordinated efforts of regulatory bodies during the presidency of Biden in order to exert banks to cut off the bond from crypto. They say that version 1.0 took place when Obama's administration followed banks that supported the producers of weapons and payday lenders.

Thanks to the word “debanking”, performers and cryptographic investors found direct allies among the best republicans in both chambers of congress and in the White House who are ready and ready to examine all potential non -usable ones that took place when democrats ruled.

President Donald Trump He underwent a political profit program. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last month accused Jpmorgan chase AND Bank of America Politically motivated deban, claiming that the main financial institutions rejected conservatives under the pressure of regulatory bodies. Banks denied the claim, and Trump did not provide any evidence to support them.

Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla.) He raced with Trump and, as the chairman of the Senate Banking Commission, used his own Opening remarks At the hearing on February 5 to repeat the president's sentiment.

“It is extremely disturbing and depressing to listen to history about financial institutions that cut off services for digital assets, political numbers and conservative companies and units,” said Scott.

For leaders of the cryptocurrency industry, such as McCouley, republican leadership in Washington provided a platform for public emitting their complaints.

McCouley, whose company is federally chartered cryptographic bank, told the sudden loss of banking services Anchorage in June 2023. He said that although his company was in the face of numerous challenges, the environment was even worse for less set startups.

“You can only imagine what is happening to smaller entrepreneurs who did not have resources to be able to marshal, to maintain open bank accounts,” said McCouley CNBC.

In his certificate To the Scott McCouley committee, he said that after losing access to banking services, Anchorage had to slow down 20% of the workforce, including 70 US employees. To this day, customers are unable to “send transfers to third parties,” he said.

Loud interrogations at such an early stage of the second administration of Trump emphasizes the sudden influence of the cryptocurrency industry, which was Instrumental in acquisition His privileged candidates chosen throughout the country in November.

Cryptographic exchange Coins was One of the best corporate donors In the election cycle in 2024, giving over $ 75 million to a group called Fairshake and its PACS Association, including Fresh promise of $ 25 million To support Profa-Crypto Super Pac in mid-2026. Ripple spent about $ 50 million.

Coinbase and Ripple were involved in prolonged legal battles with SEC behind the former chairman Gary Gense.

His executive order on Crypto He promises “honest and open access to financial services. And Trump appointed the capitalist Venture David Sacks, a longtime ally Elon MuskAs the first artificial intelligence of the White House and Crypto spell.

Meanwhile, SEC has already signaled the withdrawal of the rules that the banks had previously stopped from holding Bitcoin In its balance sheets, and FDIC is under pressure to change the guidelines that hindered banks for digital assets.

Legal Director Coinbase Paul Grewal testified before the House Financial Service Committee on February 6 with Fred Thiel, CEO Bitcoin Miner Mara Holdings. At the trial entitled “Operation Dushe Point 2.0: Biden administration efforts to place crypto in the crosshairs“They described aggressive pressure from American regulatory bodies to effectively push banks to limit bonds with cryptographic companies.

“Nobody wants anyone to deny basic banking services based on their political views or whether they work in an industry that can be favorable to the current administration,” said Grewal CNBC. “There are fears in political transitions and at the congress, which in the past banking services have been armed to run Roughshod over those who may be absent.”

FDIC released last week Hundreds of pages of internal records obtained by way of applications for Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The documents show that the regulator sent “letters”, calling banks to think about their relationship with cryptographic clients.

Nothing Carter, founder of Castle Island Ventures, has I spent the months Chronicle of the apparitions in choke. He said that the FDIC files show that banks were forced to avoid cryptographic customers even in the absence of clear regulations.

“Ultimately, the smoking gun is communication between the regulatory bodies and the banks themselves,” said Carter

As part of its probe, the Chamber Committee is investigating claims that bank directors and regulatory bodies secretly black cryptographic companies.

Thiel, in his certificateHe said that “discriminatory banking and financial policy threaten the digital assets ecosystem” and that “banks and payment processors effectively decide which industries can exist and grow in the US economy.”

Among the choking incidents that caught the anger of cryptographic investors the most Forced closures of Silvergate AND Signature bank in 2023, after crash In FTX, Bankman himself Fried months earlier. Silvergate and Signature were leading banks insured by FDIC for cryptographic companies.

Silvergate Capital, a bank of the bank, confirmed in his own Bankruptcy Last year, at the beginning of 2023, there was a “rapid contraction” of IT activities, but he said that he “stabilized” and was able to “meet the regulatory capital requirements” and “could still serve its clients.”

Sivergate assigned his insolvency of “increased supervisory pressure on Silvergate and other banks focusing on the service of cryptocurrency companies.”

Signature bank He was occupied by the regulatory authorities in March 2023. Former Democratic Barney Frank Congressmen, signature, member of the management board, claimed That FDIC closed it specially “to send a very strong anti -rypt message.” FDIC organized the sale of Signature assets, excluding $ 4 billion of deposits related to cryptocurrencies.

Mike Lempres, who was the chairman of Silvergate and had previously spent two years as the legal head of Coinbase, wrote in Work song In the Wall Street Journal this week, “the federal government ultimately changes the course after four years of slandering cryptocurrencies and the use of legally dubious politicians forcing companies to his will.”

While the cryptocurrency industry gathers around this message, many in the congress focus on the justification that banks attack conservatives about their political views. Carter said that legislators are trying to reach a wider audience because “most ordinary people do not care about crypto.”

“I think it was a political choice made by people in Congress and the administration that are going after debaning, was also to contribute to conservative things,” said Carter. “So it became a problem with a much broader appeal.”

For Trump he gained more from cryptocurrencies than just political points. There is potentially a lot of money.

Before he returned to the position, Trump and the first Melania Trump already had Meme coins were launched This immediately added billions of dollars of paper value to the net value of the family, in addition to tens of millions of dollars, which the projects obtained for trade fees.

A week after his hole, Trump launched truth.fiFinancial Media arm Trump, promising ETF, cryptocurrency investments and “Patriot Economy” assets – all were approved from $ 250 million in Charles Schwab.

Meanwhile, Musk is at the Trump Administration Center and has its own project. Positions its social media platform X as an alternative internet bank, Inclusion Users to transfer funds between traditional bank accounts and their digital wallets to make immediate peer-to-peer payments.

Good vibrations are expressed throughout the industry.

“This is a completely new day for cryptocurrencies in America,” said David Marcus, former cryptocurrency head Finish and the current CEO of Startup Infrastructure Lightspark, in an interview with Squawk Box last week. What is happening at Trump said is “quite an exhaustability of the atmosphere and energy for our entire industry.”

TO WATCH: David Marcus, general director of Lightspark in the new era for cryptography