The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. will soon be under new leadership, and high-ranking Republican Travis Hill laid out some pro-crypto policy thoughts just before taking office – at least on a temporary basis, if not as a permanent one. new president.
FDIC Vice Chairman Hill, who is expected to be among the candidates for the position once President-elect Donald Trump takes office, is calling on the US banking regulator to issue new guidelines for digital assets. He wants to abandon the agency’s current approach to directing banks’ cryptocurrency ties.
“This has stifled innovation and contributed to the public perception that the FDIC is out of business if institutions are interested in anything related to blockchain or distributed ledger technology,” Hill said in his remarks of January 10, which also highlighted the controversial “pause” letters. unearthed by a Freedom of Information Act court battle with Coinbase Inc. He suggested those letters illustrated how — in its piecemeal approach to overseeing crypto in the banking system — the agency has alienated many banks in the digital asset business sectors.
“I continue to think that a much better approach would have been – and remains – for agencies to clearly and transparently describe to the public what activities are legally permitted and how to conduct them in accordance with safety and soundness standards,” he said. -he declared. “And if regulatory approvals are necessary, they must be made in a timely manner, which has not been the case in recent years.”
Hill, who was a Republican appointed to the board two years ago, also criticized the FDIC’s role in pressuring banks to shed their crypto customers.
“One of the FDIC’s long-standing goals is to reduce the number of unbanked people,” he said. “Efforts to remove law-abiding customers are unacceptable, regulators must work to stop them, and there is no place at the FDIC for anyone who has pushed – explicitly or implicitly – banks to stop serving law-abiding customers.”
Current longtime chairman Martin Gruenberg told agency employees he would resign on Jan. 19, the day before Trump’s inauguration. In the absence of a president, the vice president assumes this function on an interim basis.
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