Press Releases

House Committee on Financial Services Chairman French Hill (AR-02) and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Dan Meuser (PA-09) today released a final staff report titled “Operation Choke Point 2.0: Biden’s Debanking of Digital Assets.”

Beginning in the 118^th 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.

Click here to view the debanking report.

 “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.”