Caitlin Long on Why the Fed’s Rejections of Custodia Bank Seem Politically Motivated

Caitlin Long and lawyer Michelle Kaplan explain why Custodia Bank felt compelled to sue the Fed.

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Caitlin Long, founder and CEO of Custodia Bank, and Michelle Kallen, partner at Jenner & Block, join the podcast to discuss Custodia’s legal battle with the Federal Reserve—a fight that has drawn significant attention in the crypto industry.

Custodia, established as a special purpose depository institution in Wyoming, aimed to offer secure banking services for the crypto sector. Despite meeting state requirements and taking extra steps to demonstrate its commitment to safety, Custodia’s application for a Fed master account was met with delays and ultimately denied in an unprecedented 86-page report.

In this episode, Caitlin and Michelle explains why they believe the Fed’s rejection was politically motivated, how this relates to a operation Choke Point 2.0, the appalling small number of American banks owned by women, where they are in their lawsuit against the Fed, and what this case means for the future of crypto banking in the U.S.

Show highlights:

What Custodia Bank is and how it got started in Wyoming
How Custodia got into a fight with the Fed to get its master account
How the dual banking system works in the U.S. and the differences between Custodia and traditional banks
Why Custodia filed a lawsuit against its own regulator
Why the Fed denied Custodia its applications and Caitlin’s response to the criticisms
The political coordination meant to “intimidate” Custodia, according to Caitlin
The amicus briefs that were filed in favor of Custodia
Caitlin’s reaction to the Fed’s enforcement action against Customers Bank
Why Caitlin says that it’s “abusive and corporatist” that the SEC is granting exceptions to big banks
Why so few banks are owned by women and whether this played a role in Custodia’s denial
The next steps in Custodia’s case and whether a stablecoin is viable for them
Whether the elections are going to impact the case

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Guests:

Caitlin Long, Founder & CEO of Custodia Bank
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Michelle Kallen, Partner at Jenner & Block

Unchained Podcast is Produced by Laura Shin Media, LLC. Distributed by CoinDesk.

HOST

Laura Shin

Laura Shin is a crypto journalist, host of the Unchained podcast, and author of “The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze” (Public Affairs, 2022). Formerly a senior editor at Forbes, she was the first mainstream journalist to cover crypto full-time, and her podcasts and videos have had more than 15 million downloads and views. Shin has spoken about cryptocurrency at places such as TEDx San Francisco, the International Monetary Fund, Singularity University and the Oslo Freedom Forum.

She graduated Phi Beta Kappa with Honors from Stanford University and has a master of arts from Columbia University’s School of Journalism. She lives in New York City.