Remember last year when the SEC filed a lawsuit against Coinbase for securities violations? The crypto exchange then filed suits earlier this year against the SEC, FDIC and other agencies after their Freedom of Information Act requests (FOIAs) were denied.
Coinbase posted letters Friday from the FDIC. The documents are, in the words of chief legal officer Paul Grewal. “Operation Chokepoint 2.0 wasn’t just some crypto conspiracy theory.”
Letter from March 2022 about the proposed “fintech product” Notes, such as the FDIC “has not yet determined what, if any, regulatory filings will be necessary for a bank to engage in this type of activity.” Guyot adds, “As a result, we respectfully ask that you pause all crypto asset-related activity.”
On that and other letters, the black highlighter (i.e. government redactions), was often used. The FDIC has been around since “still hiding behind way overbroad redactions,” Grewal explains.
History Associates is a consulting firm Coinbase employed in 2023 for help retrieving records. In a filing filed in court on Friday, History Associates said it was not happy with the FDIC’s results.
History Associates states that first, it appears the letters redact the information about what digital products or services are at issue. History Associates notes that there is also heavy redaction in certain letters. “makes it difficult for History Associates to evaluate whether the FDIC has disclosed all non-exempt portions of those letters.”
According to the FDIC’s court documents, the redactions are done in order to protect the identities of banks. A spokesperson for the FDIC declined to provide any further comment.
Marc Andreessen (a16z) co-founder said recently on Joe Rogan’s Podcast that 30 or so tech and cryptocurrency founders had been debanked over the past few years.
“Law-abiding American businesses should be able to access banking services without government interference,” Grewal noted that the incoming government can change course.
This topic will be covered in great detail.
Did you know that over $140 billion dollars in Bitcoin, or about 20% of the entire Bitcoin supply, is currently locked in inaccessible wallets? Or maybe you have lost access to your Bitcoin wallet? Don’t let those funds remain out of reach! AI Seed Phrase Finder is here to help you regain access effortlessly. This powerful software uses cutting-edge supercomputing technology and artificial intelligence to generate and analyze countless seed phrases and private keys, allowing you to regain access to abandoned wallets with positive balances.