President Trump to sign executive order threatening penalties for crypto debanking: report

President Trump is preparing to sign an executive order targeting financial institutions over the debanking of businesses and individuals, including crypto companies, according to The Wall Street Journal.

A draft of the order, as seen by the outlet, aims to tackle perceived discrimination against crypto firms and conservatives, threatening to fine banks that cut off customers for political reasons, alongside consent decrees or other disciplinary measures. It also reportedly directs regulators to investigate if any financial institutions have violated the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, antitrust laws, or consumer financial protection laws. However, it does not name any firms.

The executive order could be signed as early as this week, the WSJ reported late Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. However, the order could still be delayed, and the administration's plans may change, it warned.

Debanking, also known as "Operation Choke Point 2.0," refers to the alleged targeted actions to disconnect crypto and other businesses from financial services amid heightened regulatory oversight under the prior Biden administration in recent years. Operation Choke Point 1.0, a U.S. Department of Justice initiative from 2013, aimed to limit banking services for industries considered high-risk for fraud, such as payday lenders and firearms dealers.

The draft order also directs regulators to remove policies that may have contributed to debanking, requires the Small Business Administration to review its loan partner practices, and calls for some violations to be referred to the attorney general.

In recent months, banks have reportedly updated their policies and met with Republican attorneys general to signal they don't discriminate based on political affiliation, aiming to preempt federal action. Under Trump, the Federal Reserve, OCC, and FDIC have already pledged to stop weighing "reputational risk" when evaluating banks' customer relationships.

Crypto execs open up about debanking experiences

Crypto firms and conservatives have long claimed banks denied them services for political reasons, while banks say such decisions stem from legal, regulatory, and financial risks — particularly pressure related to U.S. anti-money-laundering laws and past guidance discouraging involvement with the crypto industry.

President Trump, a former crypto critic, came around to the industry while running his reelection campaign, which was financially backed by some of crypto's most visible personalities. Among Trump's many pledges to the industry during the election campaign, two of them were shutting down the so-called Operation Choke Point 2.0 and establishing a more crypto-friendly regulatory framework.

Following Trump's win in November, a plethora of voices in the industry — including a16z crypto co-founder Marc Andreessen, Custodia CEO Caitlin Long, Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, Kraken co-founder Jesse Powell, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, and Frax Finance founder Sam Kazemian — began speaking out on their past experiences of debanking.

In January, the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform launched an investigation into alleged debanking in the crypto industry, reaching out to firms like Coinbase, Kraken, and Uniswap Labs for input on the matter.

In April, President Trump's second-oldest son, Eric Trump, whose own industry involvement extends to bitcoin mining firm America Bitcoin and DeFi project World Liberty Financial, said he discovered crypto after he was deplatformed from several U.S. banks. "I never thought I'd fall into the world of crypto until every bank began cancelling us for absolutely no reason other than the fact that my father was in politics," Eric Trump said at the time. "They came after us viciously. It wasn't until that time that I realized how important crypto was."