‘Government is addicted to indirect regulation’ – Ripple CTO
Ripple's Chief Technical Officer David Schwartz recently joined the list of tech founders protesting Operation Chokepoint 2.0 – a government-run debanking operation against the crypto industry. Schwartz says government is “addicted to implicit regulation” and lays out four reasons why banking undermines the rule of law.
Schwartz argued that parties would either switch providers or take their money underground — thereby avoiding oversight and sanctions altogether. The CTO also said unbundling would undermine due process, freedom of speech and the right to unlawful search and seizure. Schwartz wrote:
“Our government is addicted to indirect control because of these evil practices. It's cheaper and easier to force someone else to punish me than to charge them with a crime and give them due process, but the government shouldn't punish people without giving them due process.”
“It is easier to force banks to stop doing business that they resent rather than making it illegal,” the CTO continued, before pleading with the government to use legal and above-board procedures to regulate businesses.
Listed for conspiracy to violate civil rights. Source: Marc Andreessen
RELATED: FDIC Chairman, ‘Operation Chokepoint 2.0 Architect' Martin Grunberg Release Jan. 19
Industry founders replicate the government's debanking practices
According to venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, more than 30 tech firms have been victims of Operation Chokepoint 2.0, and tech founders have recently taken to social media to share their debanking experiences.
That includes Sam Kazemian, the founder of Frax Financial, who said JPMorgan Chase has fired him from the bank in December 2022.
Coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong has requested government records on Operation Chocpon 2.0 through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and is currently compiling the records.
In September 2024, Castle Island Ventures partner Nick Carter revealed that the Biden administration killed Silvergate Bank – a major crypto bank – in an attempt to destroy the crypto industry. “I believe that Silvergate could have survived its collapse — and it was on track to do so,” Carter said.
However, industry executives are hopeful that the incoming Trump administration will reverse years of regulatory hostility toward the crypto industry.
Magazine: Crypto has 4 years to grow so big ‘no one can shut it down': Cain Warwick, Infinex
