Consensys, the developer of Ethereum software best known for its Metamask portfolio, was hit twice by attempts by the American authorities to exclude it from the financial system, despite the best efforts of its bank the second time, the founder and CEO Joe Lubin said in an interview.
The company has survived what is called ChokePoint 2.0 operation by holding redundant backup accounts to avoid embarking on operational difficulties. Lubin also said that he was personally struck during the purge.
ChokePoint 2.0 specifically refers to the debancing of companies and cryptographic executives due to the pressure exerted during the administration of President Joe Biden by regulatory authorities such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC). The Consensys bank, which Lubin refused to identify, resisted a lot of pressure to close his account, he said.
“The bank told us that they got a lot of pressure to close our account: a company of $ 7 billion, has always been an excellent customer for them,” said Lubin. “They mainly said,” We love you guys. We don’t want to do that. We will try to delay the process as long as possible, and we will let you know if we have to do something. “”
The initial strangulation point, launched by the Ministry of Justice during the Obama Administration, aimed to reduce access to banking services for legal companies but politically disadvantaged, such as wage lenders and arms dealers to arms fire.
Crypto Debanking has become a subject of discussion in recent months, with leaders like the boss of Andreessen Horowitz Marc Andreessen and the CEO of Ripple Brad Garlinghouse by discussing in public. This week, he was the subject of a meticulous examination of Congress in a series of hearings, marking a new lead in the inversion of resistance to policies of the digital asset industry in Washington under the administration of the President Donald Trump.
Lubin’s commentary shows that some banks deserve the merit of having tried to resist the pressure exerted by the American authorities. Finally, however, the pressure has become too much and the bank collapsed.
“The bank finally said,” We can do nothing more. We will have to close your account. We are really sorry ” said Lubin.
A person familiar with the case said the American bank in question was Fargo. Wells Fargo refused to comment.
However, it was not the end of the story. After Trump’s electoral victory in November, the bank’s relations director contacted the consensys financial director.
“Day after the elections, the bank contacted one of our residents in finance and said:” Hey, can we take you to a basketball match? “” Said Lubin.
An earlier experience of Chkerpoint was brighter and clinical.
“He was a previous banking partner,” said Lubin without naming the bank. “They closed my personal account and closed the company’s account. They just wrote a very vanilla survey letter. That was it.
