The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency recently released its correspondence to banks that sought to engage in cryptocurrency-related activities as part of an effort to end alleged debanking by the agency. The names of the banks were redacted from the correspondence.
The OCC in 2021 issued an interpretive letter requiring banks to first notify agency supervisors of their intent to enter into crypto-related activity and to seek a written supervisory non-objection prior to doing so. The requirement was rescinded earlier this year, with OCC’s current leadership accusing its predecessor of misusing its authority to debank legal crypto activities.
The House Financial Services Committee today released a report on alleged debanking of crypto firms during the Biden administration. In response, the OCC pointed to an online list of each formal supervisory non-objection request submitted by a bank along with the agency’s response, if available. Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould also noted his agency has removed references to reputation risk in its handbooks and guidance documents, which he said were “used by regulators to drive debanking.”
