FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 2, 2026
CONTACT: Jarice Thompson, jarice@ourfinancialsecurity.org
Statement of Patrick Woodall, managing director at Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund:
AFREF Condemns Dangerous Approval of Coinbase’s Bank Charter Application
Granting Coinbase a bank charter runs counter to longstanding federal law and practice and increases the risk of financial crisis. The rush to grant bank charters to crypto companies like Coinbase, and to hand them many of the privileges of being a bank without corresponding oversight is dangerous and destabilizing. It will expose the broader financial system to the caustic volatility, fraud, and money laundering endemic to crypto markets. This approval also ignores a century of federal law, regulation, and jurisprudence regarding trust charters.
Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund filed comments opposing the Coinbase charter application last year.
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