February 23, 2023

Regulators Heed Brown's Call to Apply Existing Safeguards to Crypto Risks

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, issued the following statement after the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) warned banks on the liquidity risks presented by cryptocurrencies. The regulatory agencies reminded banking organizations to apply existing risk management principles to certain sources of funding from crypto-asset-related entities.

“As we continue to learn the full extent of the fallout from the crypto industry’s collapse, it’s important that we use our existing financial safeguards to protect consumers and our economy from crypto’s risks,” said Brown. “This is the right step to provide more clarity to banking organizations and protect people’s hard-earned money as we continue to consider a comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets.”

Brown held a hearing last week on the crypto crash, and called for existing financial safeguards to be applied to the crypto industry. Last year, Brown held multiple hearings on the risks cryptocurrencies present to consumers, including a hearing on the FTX collapse and a hearing on fraud and scams in the crypto and securities markets.

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