Congressman French Hill Released Report on Operation Choke Point 2.0 and Debanking of Crypto Companies under Biden

• The House of Representatives Committee, headed by French Hill, presented a report on Operation Choke Point 2.0.
• It refers to the systemic pressure of the Biden administration, which restricted the work of crypto companies in the United States.
• The congressman stressed that understanding the actions of regulators will help to avoid Operation Choke Point 3.0.

The Financial Services Committee of the US House of Representatives, chaired by Republican French Hill, has published a report on the actions of US regulators, which, according to lawmakers, have been hindering the development of the crypto industry in the country for years.

The document describes in detail the so-called Choke Point 2.0 operation, an informal practice that, according to the report’s authors, led to the systemic debanking of companies involved in digital assets.

The report claims that agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Federal Reserve System (FRS), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) effectively restricted banks’ work with crypto projects during the administration of former President Joe Biden.

According to the authors of the document, this was due to excessive regulatory powers, informal guidance, and a focus on the “risks” of digital assets.

The report says that “the Biden administration sought to make it nearly impossible to engage in digital asset related activities” and regulators have used “informal guidance […] to discourage these entities from engaging in digital asset-related activities.”

According to the Committee, the uncertainty of the rules, pressure on banks, and the active application of supervisory measures have created a “chilling effect” in the sector, leading to the de-banking of at least 30 companies and individual entrepreneurs.

The document also refers to cases of banks refusing to serve crypto firms, in particular after warnings from regulators. For example, the FDIC, according to the report, sent so-called “pause letters” that effectively stopped the launch of crypto services in some banks.

In addition, the Fed, for its part, has introduced the Novel Activities Supervision Program, which has significantly complicated banks’ access to digital assets. The SEC, as stated in the report, preferred to regulate “through coercion” rather than through clear rules.

We wrote that in April 2025, Paul Atkins became the new chairman of the SEC, who stated that he would not apply coercive policies to crypto companies and would work to create a clear and fair system of regulation of digital assets, unlike his predecessor, Gary Gensler.

The Committee highlighted that the Biden administration justified its actions by citing market volatility and anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CFT) concerns, although it acknowledged that “the use of virtual assets for money laundering remains far below the scale of fiat currency.”

The report also noted that the pressure resulted in the emigration of some crypto entrepreneurs and a slowdown in the development of crypto startups in the United States. Similar statements were previously made in Silicon Valley.

In December 2024, Hill publicly announced his intention to investigate cases of de-banking for the first time. This was confirmed by the heads of Anchorage Digital and Stellar Development Foundation during a meeting in Congress.

After the change of administration, according to the document, the regulators appointed by Donald Trump have already cancelled some of the guidelines and rules adopted under Biden.

The report states:

The Committee noted that the study of these practices is necessary to avoid the recurrence of similar scenarios in the future and to prevent Choke Point 3.0.

It is worth noting that crypto policy has become one of the topics of the election campaign. In March 2025, Trump said he would stop using banks “as a tool to put pressure on the crypto industry” and emphasized:

According to media reports, in August, it became known that the White House intended to prepare a decree that would oblige regulators to investigate cases of crypto companies’ debanking and impose disciplinary measures on financial institutions in case of violations.

The Committee’s report also links the termination of Choke Point 2.0 to the growth of crypto startups, as Forbes previously pointed out in its forecast: improved regulatory certainty and a change in SEC leadership, according to analysts, will contribute to a new wave of token launches and the return of innovation in the United States.