During a Senate Banking Committee hearing on February 5, Senator Elizabeth Warren chose not to address the continuing cryptocurrency dispute. The hearing, which centered on charges that US government agencies forced financial institutions into ending services for digital asset startups, saw Warren move the focus to larger worries about financial discrimination.
Warren, the committee’s ranking member, raised many objections about people being denied banking access because of their previous incarceration, religious background, or participation with the legal cannabis sector. She questioned Nathan McCauley, co-founder and CEO of Anchorage Digital, about his experiences and sought advice from Aaron Klein of the Brookings Institution on how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) should combat unfair debanking practices.
“I don’t think for a second that you should be locked out of our banking system,” Warren said, apparently referring to Anchorage Digital’s situation. Warren emphasized that financial organizations must discontinue such practices if they are systematically excluding people for personal views or other unjustified grounds.
McCauley stated at the hearing that he and other crypto leaders had received banking service denials, claiming that regulators had encouraged banks to cut relations with the crypto business. However, when Warren pressed him for specifics, he declined to name the banks that had restricted Anchorage’s access, citing worries about the effectiveness of such disclosure. Instead, Warren shifted the conversation to the need for a formal database to track debanking requests and provide greater transparency.
While Warren’s stance differed from that of Committee Chair Tim Scott and other Republican senators, who investigated allegations that regulatory agencies such as the FDIC and SEC actively discouraged banks from serving crypto firms, she remained steadfast in her broader fight against financial discrimination. Notably, a lawsuit launched by Coinbase in June 2024 resulted in the disclosure of documents indicating that the FDIC had advised certain banks to suspend their crypto-related financial services.
Mike Ring, President and CEO of Old Glory Bank, added to the argument by testifying that the FDIC and SEC’s combined measures effectively blocked banks from providing key financial services to cryptocurrency businesses. According to Ring, these limitations prevented financial institutions from functioning as custodians for cryptocurrency assets and hampered their capacity to provide demand deposit services, suffocating legitimate crypto activities.
Looking ahead, the House Financial Services Committee will hold a follow-up hearing on February 6, during which prominent figures, including Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal and Fred Thiel, CEO of crypto mining firm MARA, are expected to testify on the ongoing debanking concerns.
While the larger argument over financial access and regulatory control continues, Warren’s decision to ignore the cryptocurrency issue shows a focus on systemic banking iniquities rather than the particulars of the digital asset sector. The discussion highlighted the widening rift between politicians lobbying for crypto regulation and those prioritizing financial fairness across the economy.
