The infamous Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff gets his Euro Pacific Bank’s operations suspended by Puerto Rico regulators, a thing he expected to happen with Bitcoin.
Well, Karma is really a B*tch!!
The Puerto Rican financial regulator Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions of Puerto Rico, aka Oficina del Comisionado de Instituciones Financieras (OCIF) issued a “Complaint and Cease and Desist Order” and a “Temporary Order Designating Trustee” against Euro Pacific Bank.
Peter Schiff responded by tweeting, “Despite no evidence of crimes, Puerto Rico regulators closed my bank anyway for net capital issues.”
Euro Pacific Bank later posted a notice on its website, noting: “We are complying by pausing transactions until at least July 7, 2022, in order to review their request.”
The regulators suspended the bank’s operations for failing to meet the net minimum capital requirements, and the customers were consequently denied access to their accounts after a subsequent freeze.
In addition, Euro Pacific is subject to administrative fines of $765,000 under the decision for a number of violations of the rules and laws that OCIF enforces.
Schiff later tweeted, “I have a buyer for the bank. But regulators won’t let me sell it,” stating that the buyer is highly qualified and has promised to inject capital far in excess of regulatory minimums.
The Bitcoin critic conceded that the customers may lose their money, but noted he was ignorant of the regulatory minimums and had not been given any sort of legal warning before the sudden shutdown.
He added that if the regulators told him a 4% stake was an issue he would have restructured the deal. Schiff revealed that he had to put in almost $7M in the last 2 years to cover operating losses due to bad press.
Schiff stated that the Euro Pacific Bank has no debt, no loans, and enough cash to fully cover all deposits but “Also it costs a fortune to run a small bank. That’s why I never really made any money.”
This incident solidifies Bitcoin’s position as the eventual substitute for traditional finance, with the crypto community simultaneously discussing the importance of decentralization, mocking Peter Schiff for his attitude towards crypto and how his words bite him back.
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