Coinbase Reveals FDIC's Repeated Warnings to Banks Against Crypto Services Through FOIA Request

Coinbase's Chief Legal Officer, Paul Grewal, recently shared some important information. He pointed out that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has told banks to stop providing crypto-related services on multiple occasions.

In a post on X, Grewal explained how Coinbase found this out. They submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the FDIC. They wanted to know more about the ongoing crackdown on crypto by U.S. banks.

“Slowly but surely, the picture is becoming clear,” Grewal said. “After we filed our lawsuit, the FDIC finally started sharing information about the pause letters sent to financial institutions as part of Operation Chokepoint 2.0.”

He described these findings as concerning. Grewal believes that it shows a government agency trying to limit financial access for law-abiding American companies. So far, they’ve found over 20 instances where the FDIC instructed banks to “pause,” “refrain from providing,” or “not proceed” with crypto banking services.

“The public deserves transparency, not an agency working behind a bureaucratic curtain,” he emphasized.

One specific example he shared involved Eric T. Guyot, the Assistant Regional Director of the FDIC’s Dallas Regional Office. He sent a letter to the board of directors of an unnamed bank, asking them to pause all crypto-related activities.

The letter mentioned that the FDIC had received the bank’s proposal for a new crypto-asset product. It described what the product was, how customers would access it, and what it offered. The FDIC stated that it hadn’t yet made any determinations about that type of activity and requested the bank to stop all crypto-asset operations.

In June, Coinbase took legal action against both the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the FDIC. They claimed these regulatory bodies were trying to undermine the digital assets industry.