The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) said in a statement on Friday that it is seeking public comment on the development of new rules to prevent banks from refusing to provide services for the legitimate business of companies.
OCC Director Brian Brooks said, “We must stop the total boycott of the entire industry.”
The statement pointed out that the bank refused to provide services to Alaska’s oil and gas companies and Planned Parenthood.
Brooks pointed out the bipartisan nature of many of these prohibitions: “These things are not politically partisan, but we have found various attempts to weaponize the banking system politically. The banking industry is quietly politicizing, this It’s very dangerous.”
Brooks said:
“In the United States, encryption is legal, but companies involved in these businesses have different licensing requirements, so it’s clear that if a bank is providing banking services for one of these businesses, then as part of its investigation, the bank will consider One thing is whether the exchange or other business has been approved in the state.”
In other words, banks cannot disqualify potential crypto customers based on their industry. Uncertain regulatory and reputational risks have caused banks to cut off services to crypto businesses around the world.
Brooks was in charge of Coinbase’s legal team and took over the OCC in May of this year. He took the lead in taking a series of measures to coordinate the relationship between crypto and the banking industry.
