Crypto Industry Weighs on FDIC’s Sexism and Strip Club Misconduct
As the FDIC prepares to appear before the Senate tomorrow, some industry leaders are questioning who will benefit from the row.
A newspaper report published on Monday disclosed a culture of widespread sexism, sexual harassment, and lustful conduct at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). This compelled some crypto leaders to declare the prevalence of sexism in the banking industry, while others claimed that political motivations influenced the timing of this story’s revelation.
Male Supervisors Accused of Making Sexual Advances
The article narrated several instances involving male supervisors allegedly making sexual advances to female FDIC workers and sexually harassing them in the workplace. Additionally, it explained how male colleagues pressured the female employees to visit strip clubs or drink.
It also explained how they acquired negative performance assessments that were indirectly or clearly associated with their gender. The article resonated with crypto officials who claimed they had witnessed the same conduct in the finance sector earlier.
US Banking Sector Labeled a Male-dominated Arena
On Twitter, Caitlin Long, the founder and chief executive officer of Custodia, a crypto-friendly bank, said that banking is still male-dominated.
She explained how she spoke at a United States banking conference in 2022, where a comedian became quite vulgar to the extent of forcing women to walk out in numbers. This was worse than what she had witnessed in ‘crypto bros.’
Caitlin seemed to be expressing concerns at the crypto sector detractors who support hostility towards women, without admitting that such problems are less extreme compared to, or endemic to, a vast and much long-established sexism culture in American banking.
Caitlin Accuses Federal Banking Biased in Granting Accreditation to Permit
She has accused federal banking organizations of other types of hypocrisy in the past. For a long time, the Federal Reserve has failed to provide Caitlin’s Custodia Bank with a standard accreditation to permit it to carry out traditional banking duties.
Currently, she is involved in a lawsuit claiming the Fed is unlawfully trying to bar Custodia from running, possibly due to the bank being open to crypto.
Similarly, other crypto officials and analysts took advantage of the quickly unfolding FDIC wrongdoing to question the postulation that compared to the digital assets industry, the traditional banking system is more trustworthy and authentic.
Misconduct Prevalent in US Central Banking System
On Monday, Sam Callahan, a blockchain analyst, wrote that the country’s central banking regulator possesses a culture with a high prevalence of misconduct going back years. He also mentioned that worrying was unnecessary since the folks would have people’s back in the future banking crisis. Nic Carter, crypto VC and analyst, said these persons question banks concerning the ‘reliability and safety’ risks of banking normal crypto businesses.
Some crypto executives further criticized the traditional banking system by openly questioning the publication’s timing and whether the story may benefit conventional banking entities. The story suggested that FDIC’s high worker turnover was associated with, for instance, its purported toxic work environment.
In turn, it significantly hindered the regulator from effectively predicting several major regional banks’ failure, which included the Silicon Valley Bank.
BitMex Co-Founder Faults Publication Timing as Suspicious
According to some crypto executives, including Arthur Hayes, BitMEX’s cofounder, the narrative seems suspicious. He questioned if it was an attempt to depict the regional banks’ failure due to an inappropriately behaved singular regulator instead of the outcome of a thoughtful monetary policy choice by the United States Treasury and the Fed.
Ron Hammond, Blockchain Association’s Director of Government Relations, said that FDIC leaders would appear before the United States Senate Banking Committee in a session that would likely cover de-banking and crypto.
The hearing will comprise tales concerning the FDIC’s toxic workplace culture. Nic said that there must be a reason for the article’s leakage.
Editorial credit: rafapress / Shutterstock.com
