Sense

The current deposit insurance cap under the FDIC is $250,000, but recent banking collapses have seen calls to increase that amount.

U.S. officials are reportedly studying ways to expand the current scope of deposit insurance that would guarantee all U.S. bank deposits should the current banking crisis worsen.

The current deposit insurance cap under the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) stands at $250,000, however, following the collapse of several banks in March, there have been calls to increase that amount.

Organizations such as the Mid-Size Bank Coalition of America called on March 18 for the cap to be lifted for the next two years, citing a need to protect depositors and to stop capital being pulled from smaller banks for supposedly safer-looking heavyweights.

According to a March 21 Bloomberg report citing “people with knowledge of the talks,” Treasury Department staff members are currently discussing the possibility of the FDIC being able to expand the current deposit insurance beyond the max cap to cover all deposits.

After some intense "studying" they realised that they needed $17 trillion to guarantee all bank deposits. pic.twitter.com/Z15HLiBp23

— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) March 21, 2023

The move would ultimately hinder on what level of emergency authority federal regulators have, and if the insurance cap can be increased without formal consent from Congress.

Bloomberg’s sources indicated, however, that U.S. authorities don’t deem such a drastic move necessary at the moment, as recent steps taken by financial regulators are likely to be sufficient.

As such, they stated that a potential strategy is being whipped up just in case the current situation gets worse.

The US Govt says it studies ways to guarantee all bank deposits if the banking crisis grows.

They say that because they know that the banking crisis will grow?

They don’t have the $18 trillion required to protect depositors.#RunOnTheBank while you can.
Gold, Silver, Crypto.

— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) March 21, 2023

In response to Silvergate, Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank going bust in recent weeks, the Federal Reserve rolled out the $25 billion Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP) on March 13, as the government pushed to stem any further contagion.

Related: UBS Group agrees to $3.25B ‘emergency rescue’ of Credit Suisse

Meanwhile, in a March 20 press briefing, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was specifically asked if the federal government was supportive of a push from small and mid-size banks to expand FDIC insurance beyond $250,000.

Jean-Pierrre was tight-lipped on the Biden Administration’s view, noting that “our goal is to ensure the financial system is stable,” before emphasizing that creating a fair playing field was the “focus of Treasury and the bank regulators.”

“And as you saw, due to our actions this week at the direction of the President, Americans should be confident of their deposits. We’ll be there when they — when they need them.”

“And — and so, again, that’s what our focus is going to be. We don’t have any new announcements at this time. But clearly, we want to make sure that our financial system is stable,” she added.

SpankChain was forced to close its crypto payment processor after the hunt for a new adult-industry-friendly service provider yielded no results.

Ethereum-based adult entertainment platform SpankChain is shuttering its crypto payment processor, SpankPay, after losing its payment service provider Wyre in February and failing to find a new one. 

In February, SpankPay revealed that its previous provider — crypto payment platform Wyre — had terminated its agreement to provide payment services to SpankPay, referring to "violations of any third-party payment processor or network rules."

After a long and difficult consideration, we have decided to close down SpankPay, our crypto payment processor that we built as a safe haven for our community. Rest assured your money is safe and we’ll get it to you as soon as possible.

— SpankPay (@SpankPay) March 20, 2023

In a March 20 post, SpankPay said this was a “targeted shutdown” by Wyre because their new payment processor “doesn’t work with the adult business.”

“This came as a shock, seeing as our relationship with Wyre had been supportive and respectful up until this point,” it wrote.

SpankPay says since then, all attempts to find another service provided resulted in rejection due to it "being in the adult industry."

Other service providers that we explored also rejected us due to being in the adult industry. Operating SpankPay in a hostile banking environment has always been challenging, but the escalating attacks have become untenable for our small team and the niche market we serve.

— SpankPay (@SpankPay) March 20, 2023

"Operating SpankPay in a hostile banking environment has always been challenging, but the escalating attacks have become untenable for our small team and the niche market we serve," SpankPay wrote in a Twitter thread.

SpankChain is an Ethereum-based blockchain aimed at helping adult content creators cut out third-party intermediaries such as traditional banks — which have had a long history of conflict with the adult industry.

SpankChain launched SpankPay in July 2019 as one of the means to realize that goal. The adult-industry-friendly payment solution assisted adult entertainers and merchants in accepting cryptocurrency for their services.

Related: Blockchain technology can help create safe and inclusive adult platforms

Despite the shutdown, the company assured users, "your money is safe and we'll get it to you as soon as possible."

“We encourage users to create crypto wallets and explore personal financial sovereignty. We’ll continue to develop and invest in products that advance the adult industry,” it added.