Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has announced that the company will cut ties with law firms that are hiring individuals who are associated with regulatory crackdowns on crypto.
The announcement, delivered in a tweet earlier this week, specifically pointed to actions taken during the tenure of former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) leadership under Gary Gensler.
“We’ve let all the law firms we work with know, that if they hire anyone who committed these bad deeds in the (soon to be) prior administration, we will no longer be a client of theirs,” Armstrong said. Notably, he accused certain SEC officials of unethical behavior, asserting, “It’s an ethics violation in my book to try and unlawfully kill an industry while refusing to publish clear rules.”
Armstrong called out the law firm Milbank for hiring Gurbir Grewal, a prominent SEC figure, declaring Coinbase would not engage with them as long as Grewal remains employed. He further emphasized that while he does not support “permanently canceling people,” he believes the crypto industry should not financially support those who allegedly facilitated “abuse” against it.
Notably, his declaration comes amid rising scrutiny of U.S. regulatory agencies’ handling of the crypto industry. Many crypto advocates, including Armstrong and Kraken CEO Jesse Powell, have voiced concerns over what they perceive as a systematic effort to “debank” crypto firms and individuals. This phenomenon, dubbed “Operation Choke Point 2.0,” is characterized by regulatory pressure on banks to cut off services to politically disfavored industries, including the crypto sector.
Marc Andreessen, a prominent venture capitalist, reignited this debate during a recent interview on the Joe Rogan podcast. In it, he accused agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and other regulators of targeting crypto firms under the guise of consumer protection. Andreessen’s comments highlighted how debunking practices have disrupted the operations of numerous crypto startups over the past four years.
“Operation Choke Point 2.0 targets political enemies and disfavored tech startups. Over 30 founders have been debanked in the last four years,” Andreessen stated.
“You remember the crypto thing? Everybody got excited and then it just like stopped. The reason it stopped is because basically every crypto founder every crypto startup they either got debanked personally and forced out of the industry or their company got debanked.” He added, noting that the SEC has been trying to kill the crypto industry under Biden.
Armstrong’s remarks align with growing calls within the crypto sector to boycott organizations perceived as complicit in anti-crypto regulatory measures. Following Andreessen’s interview, Pro-crypto lawyer John Deaton called for investigations into Operation Choke Point 2.0, citing cases where crypto executives, including Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and Custodia Bank CEO Caitlin Long, faced regulatory hurdles seemingly designed to stifle their operations.
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