Blockchain Association files further FOIA requests over banking closures

The crypto advocacy group wants clarity on recent regulatory action against digital asset-friendly banks.

More Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests seeking information on recently closed crypto-friendly banks have been submitted by cryptocurrency advocacy group the Blockchain Association (BA) to two regulators.

On April 14, the Association said that in addition to the FOIA requests, it has also filed Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS).

The organization is seeking further information on the de-banking of crypto companies following the seizure of Signature Bank and the failure of Silvergate Bank.

The BA said that its request to the NYDFS was to:

“Seek to understand whether the closure of Signature Bank was the result of the bank’s insolvency or a decision to send an anti-crypto message despite the bank being fully solvent.”

The Association also reported that it was investigating whether the failure of Silvergate “was the result of a politically-motivated decision by the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, which is overseen by the FHFA, to take the extraordinary and unusual action of pulling a loan made to Silvergate only months earlier.”

1/ Following last month’s FOIA requests to investigate the possible de-banking of crypto firms, today, BA submitted additional public information requests to the FHFA and NYDFS.https://t.co/x6sPRkUhBx pic.twitter.com/ZSeCSBiIaR

— Blockchain Association (@BlockchainAssn) April 14, 2023

In early March, Silvergate’s parent company announced it would “wind down operations” for the crypto and tech-focused bank. Its peer Silicon Valley Bank collapsed on March 10 following a bank run, and the Treasury, Federal Reserve, and other agencies closed Signature Bank on March 12.

The Association initially filed for further information from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) regarding the de-banking on March 16.

On April 16, the Blockchain Association and the DeFi Education Fund filed a brief in a United States District Court over the sanctioning of Tornado Cash.

The Blockchain Association is an advocacy and lobbying group for the crypto sector, with around a hundred members that include industry executives, investors, companies, organizations, and projects.

In 2022 the Association spent $1.9 million lobbying the U.S. government according to campaign finance data firm OpenSecrets.

Cointelegraph contacted the Blockchain Association for further details but did not immediately receive a response.

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