Posted on 02/10/2023 8:26:41 AM PST by aMorePerfectUnion
The Biden Administration is quietly trying to ban crypto. Nic Carter explains in an explosive guest post for Pirate Wires.
-Solana
What began as a trickle is now a flood: the US government is using the banking sector to organize a sophisticated, widespread crackdown against the crypto industry.
And the administration’s efforts are no secret: they’re expressed plainly in memos, regulatory guidance, and blog posts. However, the breadth of this plan — spanning virtually every financial regulator — as well as its highly coordinated nature, has even the most steely-eyed crypto veterans nervous that crypto businesses might end up completely unbanked, stablecoins may be stranded and unable to manage flows in and out of crypto, and exchanges might be shut off from the banking system entirely.
For crypto firms, obtaining access to the onshore banking system has always been a challenge. Even today, crypto startups struggle mightily to get banks, and only a handful of boutiques serve them. This is why stablecoins like Tether found popularity early on: to facilitate fiat settlement where the rails of traditional banking were unavailable. However, in recent weeks, the intensity of efforts to ringfence the entire crypto space and isolate it from the traditional banking system have ratcheted up significantly. Specifically, the Biden administration is now executing what appears to be a coordinated plan that spans multiple agencies to discourage banks from dealing with crypto firms. It applies to both traditional banks who would serve crypto clients, and crypto-first firms aiming to get bank charters. It includes the administration itself, influential members of Congress, the Fed, the FDIC, the OCC, and the DoJ. Here’s a recap of notable events concerning banks and the policy establishment in recent weeks:
On Dec. 6, Senators Elizabeth Warren, John Kennedy, and Roger Marshall send a letter to crypto-friendly bank Silvergate, scolding them for providing services to FTX and Alameda research, and lambasting them for failing to report suspicious activities associated with those clients
On Dec. 7, Signature (among the most active banks serving crypto clients) announces its intent to halve deposits ascribed to crypto clients — in other words, they’ll give customers their money back, then shut down their accounts — drawing its crypto deposits down from $23b at peak to $10b, and to exit its stablecoin business
On Jan. 3, the Fed, the FDIC, and the OCC release a joint statement on the risks to banks engaging with crypto, not explicitly banning banks’ ability to hold crypto or deal with crypto clients, but strongly discouraging them from doing so on a “safety and soundness” basis
[much more at link and worth reading]
PING!
The crypto industry is filled with scam artists like ants at a picnic.
They have done it to themselves.
Lots of scammers wherever easy money is found.
That said, the government use of digital currency was planned world wide and cannot allow alternatives.
Crypto should not be banned. Although I will never own crypto, I don’t want the government telling people they cannot own any.
Looks like they will create their own version, but a “woke” version. It will probably ask you your race, and if it’s White, it’ll automatically whisk 10% off the top and give it to a random POC.
Your access to banking, spending, etc. will be able to be restricted for any some reason or other reason they use to punish adversaries.
As long as there is never a gov’t mandated digital currency......
I am not sure about this, although it seems reasonable.
this may be FUD as a way to get people to dump their crypto so the privileged people can buy it cheap.
or it may be a money war against pmg and crypto. If so that reinforces the believe that crypto is in fact money.
Thanks for posting this. I read it at another site but didn’t have time to post it myself.
So why do we tolerate the federal government, of the people and for the people, choosing winners and making losers while financed by our dollars?
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