Nothing has changed in US crypto banking since Trump returned: Caitlin Long

The US government has done “nothing” to address crypto debanking issues since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House, according to Custodia Bank’s CEO Caitlin Long.
Speaking on stage at ETHDenver on Feb. 28, Long said while the “perception is that there has been a loosening, none of the federal banking agencies have actually overturned any of the anti-crypto guidance.”
“It is still presumed unsafe and unsound for a bank to touch a digital asset even in a de minimis amount,” Long said while arguing that “nothing” has changed.
“That is going to change, no doubt, but Trump hasn’t proposed [anything] yet.”
Caitlin Long speaking at ETHDenver in Denver, Colorado on Feb. 28. Source: ETHDenver
The CEO of the crypto-friendly bank said the White House needs to appoint a new chair to lead the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which Long said has largely opposed evolving with technological change for the best part of 15 years under Martin Gruenberg’s leadership.
“This is why the banking system is so backwards in this country, because for the last 15 years, we’ve had somebody who isn’t interested in any change.”
Gruenberg, who was replaced by Acting Chair Travis Hill on Jan. 20, had been accused of being one of the key orchestrators of “Operation Chokepoint 2.0” — a purported federal effort to debank crypto companies.
Long acknowledged that the Securities and Exchange Commission has done a “massive 180” on its crypto policy — and is waiting for a similar shift in banking regulation.
Related: Changing political landscape brings huge crypto opportunity — US Rep. Steil
One day after US President Donald Trump was inaugurated on Jan. 20, the SEC established a Crypto Task Force led by SEC commissioner Hester Peirce to support this new approach.
The SEC notably canceled a controversial rule, Staff Accounting Bulletin 121, that asked financial firms holding crypto to record them as liabilities on their balance sheets.
Long also hopes the US passes long-awaited stablecoin legislation soon but wants to see stronger consumer protections set in place — most notably, making sure the banks hold on to cash.
“The average bank in the United States right now holds 8 cents in cash against every $1 of demand deposits… That’s fundamentally unstable and fundamentally susceptible to a bank run.”
“And in the crypto industry, I think we’ve learned that that business model does not work,” Long, said, citing the Silvergate Bank collapse.
To adequately protect consumers, stablecoin issuers must be forced to hold cash to back the stablecoin liability, Long said.
Magazine: Elon Musk’s plan to run government on blockchain faces uphill battle
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 110,170.00
Ethereum (ETH) $ 2,691.73
Tether (USDT) $ 1.00
XRP (XRP) $ 2.34
BNB (BNB) $ 690.15
Solana (SOL) $ 178.70
USDC (USDC) $ 0.999790
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.228978
Cardano (ADA) $ 0.768359
TRON (TRX) $ 0.275100
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 2,686.42
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 110,140.00
Hyperliquid (HYPE) $ 37.49
Sui (SUI) $ 3.69
Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) $ 3,245.14
Chainlink (LINK) $ 16.00
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 23.58
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.289493
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000015
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 420.13
LEO Token (LEO) $ 8.89
Hedera (HBAR) $ 0.191064
WETH (WETH) $ 2,688.27
Toncoin (TON) $ 3.01
Litecoin (LTC) $ 96.77
Monero (XMR) $ 386.01
USDS (USDS) $ 0.999691
Polkadot (DOT) $ 4.59
Wrapped eETH (WEETH) $ 2,869.72
Bitget Token (BGB) $ 5.37
Binance Bridged USDT (BNB Smart Chain) (BSC-USD) $ 1.00
Pepe (PEPE) $ 0.000014
Pi Network (PI) $ 0.749142
Ethena USDe (USDE) $ 1.00
Coinbase Wrapped BTC (CBBTC) $ 110,237.00
WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 31.95
Aave (AAVE) $ 277.70
Uniswap (UNI) $ 6.57
Bittensor (TAO) $ 448.32
Dai (DAI) $ 1.00
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 2.88
Aptos (APT) $ 5.45
Jito Staked SOL (JITOSOL) $ 215.38
OKB (OKB) $ 52.20
Ondo (ONDO) $ 0.967317
Tokenize Xchange (TKX) $ 37.79
Cronos (CRO) $ 0.098677
BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) $ 1.00
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 18.89
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 5.37
Kaspa (KAS) $ 0.106165
Ethena Staked USDe (SUSDE) $ 1.17
Official Trump (TRUMP) $ 12.81
Gate (GT) $ 20.76
Render (RENDER) $ 4.75
Mantle (MNT) $ 0.729383
VeChain (VET) $ 0.028223
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) $ 0.914375
Ethena (ENA) $ 0.405313
sUSDS (SUSDS) $ 1.05
Cosmos Hub (ATOM) $ 4.84
Worldcoin (WLD) $ 1.42
USD1 (USD1) $ 1.00
Lombard Staked BTC (LBTC) $ 110,442.00
POL (ex-MATIC) (POL) $ 0.233001
Arbitrum (ARB) $ 0.411211
Filecoin (FIL) $ 2.90
Algorand (ALGO) $ 0.224339
Fasttoken (FTN) $ 4.42
Jupiter (JUP) $ 0.628341
Celestia (TIA) $ 2.67
Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL) $ 2.52
Binance-Peg WETH (WETH) $ 2,692.99
Jupiter Perpetuals Liquidity Provider Token (JLP) $ 4.69
First Digital USD (FDUSD) $ 0.998109
Bonk (BONK) $ 0.000021
Binance Staked SOL (BNSOL) $ 188.63
Injective (INJ) $ 14.88
Sonic (prev. FTM) (S) $ 0.450614
KuCoin (KCS) $ 11.36
Fartcoin (FARTCOIN) $ 1.41
Stacks (STX) $ 0.900573
Kelp DAO Restaked ETH (RSETH) $ 2,815.48
Optimism (OP) $ 0.781925
Rocket Pool ETH (RETH) $ 3,064.63
NEXO (NEXO) $ 1.28
Flare (FLR) $ 0.018674
Story (IP) $ 4.35
Sei (SEI) $ 0.227554
Immutable (IMX) $ 0.653736
USDT0 (USDT0) $ 1.00
EOS (EOS) $ 0.773035
dogwifhat (WIF) $ 1.15
XDC Network (XDC) $ 0.067117
The Graph (GRT) $ 0.113781
Curve DAO (CRV) $ 0.796601
Solv Protocol BTC (SOLVBTC) $ 110,153.00
Binance Bridged USDC (BNB Smart Chain) (USDC) $ 1.00
FLOKI (FLOKI) $ 0.000103
Mantle Staked Ether (METH) $ 2,867.18