Back to #2234 - Marc Andreessen, with Marc Andreessen.
What Is Choke Point 2.0?
Marc Andreessen says Choke Point 2.0 is a privatized sanctions regime that lets bureaucrats kick American citizens out of the financial system the same way the United States cuts off Iran. Banks do it because regulators expect them to, while officials still say a private company such as JP Morgan chose its own customers.
The pattern started about 15 years ago under the Obama administration, as marijuana and prostitution became legal and fights over guns continued. Legal marijuana businesses, escort businesses, and gun shops were pushed out of banking. A medical marijuana dispensary in 2012 had to run entirely on cash: no bank account, no Visa terminal, no card transactions, no payroll, no direct deposit, and no insurance. Over the last four years the same pressure hit crypto entrepreneurs, fintech entrepreneurs, and anyone trying to start a new banking service, in order to protect the big banks, and it reached other legal fields officials dislike. The first version targeted pot and guns. Choke Point 2.0 targets political enemies and disfavored tech startups. 30 founders were debanked in the last four years.
None of it is written down. There is no rule, no court, no decision process, no appeal, and no due process. A founder can start a completely legal company and still get sanctioned and embargoed by the United States government through an unaccountable process. Living under a cutoff was one of the reasons for supporting Trump.