a16z Sounds Alarm: ‘Chokepoint 3.0’ Escalates as Banks Declare War on Crypto
Banks are tightening the screws—again. Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto team warns of systemic exclusion tactics targeting digital assets, dubbing it the latest ‘Chokepoint’ playbook. Here’s why the industry’s fighting back.
### The Stealth Crackdown
No memos, no press releases—just sudden account closures, delayed transactions, and ‘enhanced due diligence’ that magically only applies to crypto firms. TradFi’s latest move? A regulatory bludgeon wrapped in compliance paperwork.
### Decentralization’s Revenge
While legacy finance plays gatekeeper, DeFi protocols hit record volumes. Turns out, when you choke off fiat rails, people just build better ones—with blockchain.
### The Irony Department
Same banks that laundered billions for cartels now hyperventilate over a $50 Bitcoin transfer. But sure, ‘risk management’ is totally the motive here.
Game on. The crypto industry’s survived worse—and thrived. This time? They’ve got the tech, the capital, and a growing army of users who’ve had enough.
JPMorgan accusation
JPMorgan Chase, one of the largest U.S. banks, was singled out as an example.
Under current U.S. law, specifically Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act, consumers have a right to access their own financial data.
But banks are now asserting control over how that data is delivered electronically, sometimes charging fees for access to information as basic as routing and account numbers.
A16z’s executive argued that such tactics could make transferring funds to alternative platforms more costly, deterring users and reducing competition.
“If it suddenly costs $10 to move $100 into a crypto account,” Rampell wrote, “maybe fewer people will do it. And if JPM and others can block consumers from connecting their own freely chosen crypto and fintech apps to their bank accounts, they effectively eliminate competition.”
Rampell’s words echo those of Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss, who said JPMorgan charging fintech platforms for access to customer banking data will “bankrupt” them. “This is the kind of egregious regulatory capture that kills innovation, hurts the American consumer, and is bad for America.”
JPMorgan hasn’t address the platform directly, but did address the criticism. The bank told Forbes that nearly 2 billion monthly requests for user data come from third parties, and that by charging fees it aims to curb misuse.
Rampell, meanwhile, is calling on the Trump administration to stop such practices by the banks before they become standard among the rest of the financial institutions.
"In a perfect world, consumers WOULD vote with their wallets. But every bank will likely do this, and getting a new banking charter takes years. Many banks have hostages, not customers," Rampell said.
"We don’t need a new law; we just need the administration to prevent this callous and manipulative attempt to kill competition and consumer choice," he added.
