By Staff
House Committee on Financial Services Chairman French Hill (AR-02) and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Dan Meuser (PA-09) released a final staff report titled “Operation Choke Point 2.0: Biden’s Debanking of Digital Assets.”
Beginning in the 118th Congress, Committee Republicans have been investigating coordinated efforts by the Biden Administration to debank digital asset businesses and individuals. In the report, Republican Committee staff detail how Biden Administration regulators used vague rules, excessive discretion, informal guidance, and aggressive enforcement actions to pressure banks away from serving digital asset clients, resulting in at least 30 digital asset entities or individuals losing access to financial services.
“Targeting Americans over their political views erodes trust in the financial system and undermines the core freedoms our nation was founded on,” said Chairman Hill. “The staff report released today summarizes Committee Republicans’ work and details how the Biden Administration’s regulators worked to debank the digital asset ecosystem. Under the leadership of President Trump, we’ve ushered in a new era for digital assets and look forward to reversing the damage done by the Biden Administration to prevent unlawful debanking.”
Subcommittee Chair Meuser said “This report documents how Obama-era practices were revived and expanded under President Biden—through pause letters, informal pressure campaigns, and regulation-by-enforcement that forced U.S. companies offshore.
It also highlights the early leadership of President Trump, Secretary Bessent, Vice Chair Bowman, Comptroller Gould, and Acting Chair Hill in reversing this hostility and restoring fairness and clarity to bank supervision. Now Congress must codify these protections into law so that an Operation Choke Point 3.0 can never happen.”
Financial Institutions Subcommittee Chairman Andy Barr (KY-06) added “The committee’s report makes clear that Chokepoint 2.0 – an explicit, politically motivated attack on digital assets – under the Biden Administration was real and unacceptable. I commend Chairman Hill for spotlighting this issue in this report. I’ll keep working to advance my bill that will permanently enshrine President Trump’s Executive Order protecting digital assets, Christian nonprofits, firearms manufacturers, energy producers, and other politically targeted industries from being de-banked.”
Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence Subcommittee Chairman Bryan Steil (WI-01) stated “Today’s report confirms what has been clear for years: the Biden–Harris Administration ran a targeted campaign to debank individuals in the digital asset ecosystem who were engaged in legal business activity the administration simply did not favor. Operation Choke Point 2.0 stalled Web3 innovation, drove jobs overseas, and needlessly politicized access to the banking system. I look forward to working with Chairman Hill, Subcommittee Chairman Meuser, and our colleagues to ensure this regulatory abuse cannot happen again.”
DEBANKING REPORT:
KEY FINDINGS: The Biden Administration failed to establish a clear, functional digital asset regulatory regime, which allowed certain federal financial regulators to stifle digital asset projects and curtail activity by firms. The financial regulators exerted informal pressure and issued guidance documents to discourage financial institutions from providing services to digital asset firms.
CHOKE POINT 1.0 PLAYBOOK: Disturbingly, the Biden Administration was not the first Democratic administration to wrongfully target an industry it disfavored. In early 2013, President Barack Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, which included the FDIC, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the SEC, the OCC, and several other agencies, launched Operation Choke Point 1.0 as a policy initiative. During Operation Choke Point 1.0, federal regulators “pressured banks to close accounts of businesses solely because they were ideologically opposed to their existence,” including coin, firearms, and ammunition dealers, as well as short-term lenders.
SUMMARY: The Biden Administration’s revival of certain Operation Choke Point tactics presents a troubling abuse of regulatory authority. Under the guise of risk management and consumer protection, federal agencies attacked lawful industries and activities that did not align with the Biden Administration’s political preferences. By utilizing the banking system to enforce ideological goals, the Administration bypassed Congress, undermined due process, and threatened the principles of a free market economy. These backdoor efforts to debank politically disfavored industries corrode the public’s trust in our financial regulators. If left unchecked, this pattern of targeting disfavored industries through informal pressure and opaque regulatory scrutiny sets a dangerous precedent—one where financial access depends less on legality and risk—and more on conforming to political ideologies. This cannot continue.
Read the full report at financialservices.house.gov
Read the full article in the Fall 2025 RECAP issue of Rounder Magazine
Lead image symbolizing lawfare used to debank the digital asset ecosystem by promesaartstudio. Digital Currency banner logo for business technology, financial, blockchain, exchange, money and digital asset by Buffaloboy.
