‘Anti-crypto’ Elizabeth Warren joins industry in decrying debanking

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, long dubbed “anti-crypto” by industry executives, has gained a common cause with the crypto sector: fighting banks.

On Tuesday, Warren sent a letter to President Donald Trump exhorting him to examine the banking industry’s alleged pattern of debanking legitimate customers, according to The Wall Street Journal . She cited over 8,000 consumer complaints regarding account closures, and called for Trump to take action against major banks engaging in the practice.

Members of the crypto industry have long complained of challenges accessing or maintaining banking services, with financial institutions regularly closing or freezing their accounts. Some crypto firms, like Coinbase, have spent years fighting legal battles to highlight bias against the industry in securing banking services. On Wednesday, a new cache of documents appeared to confirm several instances of firms being denied banking services:

Despite linking crypto to illicit activity and North Korean cyber criminals, Warren has come out in defense of crypto firms deserving banking services. During a Senate Banking hearing on Wednesday, Warren told the CEO of crypto infrastructure provider Anchorage Digital, “I don’t think for a second you should be locked out of our banking system."

“There are times when a bank has a legitimate reason, and a legal obligation, to freeze or close a bank account,” Warren’s letter to Trump said. “But banks may be implementing these legal obligations in a sloppy and overbroad manner.”

Debanking is a cause that Trump himself has railed against, specifically against conservative voices. “Many conservatives complain that the banks are not allowing them to do business within the bank — and that included a place called Bank of America,” Trump said last month at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “They don't take conservative business.”

For years, the crypto industry has criticized the SEC’s 2022 Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 121 (SAB 121), which made it difficult for banks to serve crypto customers by appearing to increase regulatory burdens and highlight risks. This, crypto firms said, indirectly contributed to debanking.

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