Key points to remember
- Bitcoin lawyer Nic Carter believes the US government is trying to cut crypto from the banking industry.
- Carter claimed the Biden administration was reviving the Obama-era Operation Choke Point.
- Carter referred to 14 different events over the past 10 weeks that hinted at a coordinated strategy to deprive the crypto industry of its exit routes in the United States.
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Crypto companies could soon find themselves without banking services in the United States, just like online poker was during the Obama era, Nic Carter believes.
Operation Choke Point 2.0
Castle Island General Partner Nic Carter believes the crypto industry is under attack from the US government.
In a sub-stack item published Yesterday, Carter claimed that the Biden administration is “currently using the banking industry to stage a sophisticated and widespread crackdown on the crypto industry” by discouraging banks from doing business with crypto companies.
According to Carter, the government’s approach replicates a strategy employed by the Obama administration, called Operation Choke Point, which sought to marginalize specific industries by limiting their access to banking services. Industries affected included the online poker industry, gun manufacturers, adult entertainers, lotteries and money transfer networks.
Regarding the crypto space, Carter listed 14 instances over the past 10 weeks in which crypto-friendly banks were pressured by the government or otherwise chose to stop providing services to crypto companies. He claimed influential members of Congress, the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Department of Justice were involved in what he called Operation Choke Point 2.0. .
These events include statements from the Fed, FDIC, OCC, and National Economic Council strongly discouraging banks from holding crypto or dealing with crypto customers on a “safe and sound” basis. The Fed’s rejection of Custodia’s application to join the Federal Reserve, the DOJ’s investigation into Silvergate, and Signature and Metropolitan Commercial Bank’s decision to drastically cut (or shut down) their crypto services were also mentioned.
“Time and time again, using the phrase ‘safe and sound’, (the government has) made it clear that for a bank to tamper with public blockchains in any way is considered an unacceptable risk,” said Carter, adding that even though banks are not explicitly prohibited. from crypto client service, “the writing is on the wall”.
Carter’s words were echoed by Blockchain Association attorney Jake Chervinsky, who declared on Twitter that federal agencies had “weaponized (d)control of the banking system to impose discrimination against crypto companies.”
Disclaimer: At the time of writing this article, the author of this article owned BTC, ETH, and several other crypto assets.
