In an address delivered on November 12, 2025 at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) Chairman Paul S. Atkins outlined the next phase of the SEC’s “Project Crypto,” advocating for clarity and fairness in the regulation of digital assets.

Winston’s Financial Services Industry Group is closely monitoring debanking regulations and advising global financial institutions on customer onboarding and due diligence.

In this alert, Jack Knight, Carl Fornaris, Patrick Doerr, and Arman Aboutorabi examine Senator Thom Tillis’s (R-NC) proposed Ensuring Fair Access to Banking Act. Although the bill is nominally designed to “limit the circumstances under which a Federal financial regulator may require a financial institution to terminate a specific account,” it in fact proposes much more.

Senator Thom Tillis’s discussion draft of the Ensuring Fair Access to Banking Act would create a single federal “fair access” standard prohibiting “debanking” except in defined circumstances, grant enforcement authority to federal and state regulators, and preempt state fair-access laws. These changes could impact account-opening, maintenance, and exit decisions and increase litigation exposure. Read the full alert for key implications, open questions, and practical steps institutions can take now.