Withdrawing guidance permitting banks to engage in cryptocurrency-related activities won’t address the risks presented by nonbank crypto firms and won’t promote a safer marketplace for consumers and investors, two trade groups wrote last week in a letter to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) acting chief, Michael Hsu.
Friday’s letter from the Bank Policy Institute (BPI) and the American Bankers Association (ABA) comes roughly two weeks after four senators, led by Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, requested that the OCC rescind three interpretive letters issued by his predecessor and a piece of November joint guidance the senators said “may have exposed the banking system to unnecessary risk” given “turmoil” in the crypto market.
