In his recent op-ed, “Big Banks Have Trump’s Vision for Crypto in the Crosshairs,” John Czwartacki argues that recent moves by large financial institutions and regulators risk crippling the United States’ potential to lead in crypto innovation—by undermining a key rule essential to open banking.
In his op-ed John wrote:
Rule 1033, proposed under the Dodd-Frank Act, is the engine behind open banking. It empowers consumers to access their financial data and use it with the tools and platforms they choose. It levels the playing field between entrenched financial institutions and the disruptive startups bringing more choice, lower fees, and faster innovation to market—including crypto platforms.
During the pandemic, when legacy financial institutions threw up barriers—shutting branches, freezing accounts, and gatekeeping relief funds—millions turned to digital platforms and decentralized finance. Crypto offered financial freedom at a time when banks offered red tape. For the unbanked, underbanked, and digitally native, crypto wasn’t a trend—it was a necessity. This is a major reason cryptocurrency has found so much support in President Trump’s MAGA movement.
Yet nearly every crypto platform still relies on traditional banks to on-ramp user funds. That dependency puts the entire ecosystem at risk. Without the protection of Rule 1033, banks could throttle data access, limit transaction speeds, or flat-out block connections—stifling competition and innovation. The same institutions that crypto seeks to challenge would be handed the keys to the gate, and greater control over users who just want to use the financial tools and institutions they like. This is less a tug-of-war between big banks and fintech, and more a debate between big banks and consumers who simply want the freedom to move their own data where they like.
Read the full article “Big Banks Have Trump’s Vision for Crypto in the Crosshairs,” at Breitbart.