Venture capitalists, not Operation Chokepoint 2.0, blamed for SVB crash
Although a vocal group of pro-crypto influencers has blamed a government conspiracy they call “Operation Chokepoint 2.0” for de-banking crypto customers, further research has cast doubt on their claims. Operation Chokepoint 2.0 is the name given to the idea that banks, under the direction of the Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), were deliberately cutting services to crypto-related businesses. The operation allegedly takes its lead from the program launched by the Obama administration that saw banks strong-armed into denying services to a range of undesirable industries, including pornography and payday lenders. This week, however, Yale researcher Steven Kelly and Federal Reserve in-house historian Jonathan Rose published findings that the once-$200 billion Silicon Valley Bank failed not because of government intervention but rather venture capital (VC) and crypto customer...