The Financial Services Committee of the US Congress has called upon regulators to provide information regarding possible concerted actions against digital asset providers.
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry, French Hill Digital Assets Subcommittee Chairman, and Bill Huizenga,
Chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, sent letters to Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell,
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Chairman Martin Gruenberg, and Acting Head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) Michael Hsu.
The lawmakers have requested information from supervisory agencies regarding any coordinated efforts by the agencies to deny banking services to digital asset companies and the crypto ecosystem.
In their letter, the lawmakers argue that since 2012, the administrations of the FDIC, OCC, and the Fed have launched coordinated actions to reduce the access of cryptocurrency companies to the US financial market and banking services.
They allege that regulators have covertly coerced financial institutions to terminate any relationship with clients deemed undesirable by supervisory agencies.
This has resulted in digital asset service providers being placed on a par with other high-risk businesses such as arms dealers, pawnshops, tobacco shops, and payday loan microfinance companies.
The lawmakers drew attention to the fact that dealing with digital assets is not inherently risky and that regulatory response to fraud or mismanagement should not lead to the suppression of the entire digital asset industry.
Earlier, Commissioner of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Christy Goldsmith Romero said that crypto assets should lose their anonymity, as they can be used for cyber attacks on the country’s critical infrastructure.
The Financial Services Committee of the US Congress aims to prevent the suppression of innovation in the United States and to promote a regulatory environment that supports the growth of the digital asset industry.