FDIC Still Resisting Transparency Into Operation Choke Point 2.0, Says Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal

The U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) continues to “resist” transparency efforts regarding alleged past attempts to quash the crypto sector, according to Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal.

Grewal references “Operation Choke Point 2.0,” an alleged attempt by the Biden Administration government regulators to stifle the crypto industry.

Coinbase has been using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to uncover instances of the FDIC asking banks to freeze crypto services, known as “pause letters,” but Grewal says they are not fully complying.

The exchange hired the law firm History Associates, which filed a motion in January asking a federal court to intervene.

Explains Grewal,

“One of our requests concerns FDIC’s representation in a hearing before the Court that the agency had conducted “due diligence” to ensure that no documents were destroyed. We asked FDIC to describe what example that due diligence was. But FDIC has repeatedly refused to do so, and now takes umbrage at the request to explain the basis of its assertion to the Court.

In response to our requests for FDIC guidance or policies on processing FOIA requests—directly relevant to our policy-or-practice claims—the agency has produced only snippets from a few documents that have little to nothing to do with the specific FOIA policies or practices that History Associates has challenged in its amended complaint. What exactly are they hiding?”

Last month, the FDIC released redacted documents related to its supervision of crypto-related activities, which include pause letters sent to 24 banks as well as communications and records involving other regulated institutions.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) subsequently sent a letter to FDIC Acting Chairman Travis Hill requesting unredacted copies of the documents.

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