Operation Choke Point 2.0 - US Goes after crypto

Being dubbed "Operation Choke Point 2.0", the Biden Administration is orchestrating a highly coordinated plan with regulators to strangle the crypto industry by cutting ties with the banking sector thereby preventing money from moving into and out of the crypto sector.

What is Operation Choke Point?

According to its Wikipedia page, Operation Choke Point:

Operation Choke Point, an initiative of the United States Department of Justice beginning in 2013 which investigated banks in the United States and the business they did with firearm dealers, payday lenders, and other companies believed to be at a high risk for fraud and money laundering.

The Crackdown on Crypto-Friendly Banks

Crypto-friendly banks such as Silvergate Bank, Signature Bank, and Metropolitan Commercial Bank have become targets of regulators to "de-bank" the crypto industry.

According to Brian Brooks, the former acting head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), in a CoinDesk interview on Wednesday:

"It's pretty clear there has been a decision across the bank regulatory agencies in this [Biden] administration that crypto is inherently risky and needs to be extricated from the banking system"

Last week, Silvergate Bank, a California firm that catered to crypto companies, said it would “voluntarily liquidate” and shut down.

Just a few days later, tech startup-focused firm Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), which was also crypto-friendly, was closed by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, which said the bank had “inadequate liquidity and insolvency.”

Then, over the weekend, New York-based firm Signature Bank, which also had a number of crypto clients, was closed by New York State banking regulators.

Caitlin Long, CEO and founder of crypto bank Custodia, recently told Decrypt.

“Certainly since the beginning of the year, the de-banking of the crypto industry has been happening,...I trust what he [Barney Frank] said—he had no reason to lie.”

Removing the Competition?

There does seem to be a well-coordinated attack on crypto-friendly banks while at the same time, new ISO standards (ISO 20022) are already being implemented by the world's largest world's interbank and international transactions provider - SWIFT as well as the creation and adoption of blockchain-based, global government currencies (CBDCs), a worldwide global financial system being dubbed - The New Quantum Financial System (QFS).