30s Summary
Elon Musk revealed that over 30 US tech founders have been “debanked,” facing a loss of bank services. Tesla chief’s statement backed Marc Andreessen’s allegation of targeted debanking of tech start-ups and individuals contesting current political power. Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong plans to use the Freedom of Information Act to identify everyone involved in the debanking. The accusations came after the collapse of crypto-friendly banks in 2023, with critics such as Nic Carter attributing it to government pressure on banks to cut ties with cryptocurrency firms. The situation escalated with the closure of Silicon Valley Bank, Silvergate Bank, and New York’s Signature Bank.
Full Article
Hey folks, here’s some news for you. Do you remember “Operation Chokepoint”? Yeah, the one aimed to cut resources from businesses the government didn’t like. Well, something similar is happening again and they’re calling it “Operation Chokepoint 2.0”.
Elon Musk, the chief of Tesla, recently made a post saying more than 30 tech owners in US have been cut off from their bank services. That’s right, folks, they’ve essentially been “debanked”. This isn’t just a rumor, either. Musk shared a video of Marc Andreessen, a big player in the industry, talking about it on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast.
Andreessen claims that this whole thing is mainly aimed at people not favored by current political powers and their tech startups. He says more than 30 tech founders have been debanked in the past four years. That’s a lot if you ask me.
Interestingly, Brian Armstrong, the head of Coinbase, joined the conversation. Armstrong blamed the present administration for this. He’s really angry about it and argues these actions are against our American values. Armstrong also claims that Coinbase is taking steps to use Freedom of Information Act requests to find out everyone who’s involved in all this debanking.
In case you’re wondering what sparked these allegations, it was the collapse of crypto-friendly banks in 2023. Folks such as venture capitalist Nic Carter claim it’s a governmental effort to pressure banks into ending their relationships with cryptocurrency firms.
As an example, Sam Kazemian, founder of Frax Finance, shared an interesting convo with JPMorgan Chase from December 2022. Apparently, they were told flat out that any accounts linked to people primarily making a living from crypto would be closed. They attribute this directive to JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon. Ouch.
It got worse in March 2023, when Silicon Valley Bank and Silvergate Bank faced ruin. Also, New York regulators shut down Signature Bank. Crypto venture capitalist Nic Carter sees this as a “coordinated effort” to unbank the crypto industry.
Marc Andreessen backs up this opinion, linking these events to his own decision to support Donald Trump in the US Presidential Election. According to Andreessen, he can’t stand a world where someone starts a legit business, then gets sanctioned and embargoed through a murky and unfair process.
Many believe Trump’s presidential victory might actually be good for crypto. Demand for leveraged Ether funds has skyrocketed since his win, suggesting that we might see an ETH rally to over $4,000. So stay tuned, folks! Let’s see where this rollercoaster ride takes us.