Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal testified before the House Financial Services Committee on Feb. 6, along with Fred Thiel, CEO of bitcoin miner MARA Holdings. In a hearing titled "Operation Choke Point 2.0: The Biden Administration's Efforts to Put Crypto in the Crosshairs," they described aggressive pressure from U.S. regulators to effectively push banks to cut ties with crypto firms.
"No one wants to see anyone denied basic banking services on the basis of their political views or whether they happen to work in an industry that might be out of favor with the current administration," Grewal told CNBC. "There are concerns across the political aisle and across the Congress that banking services have in the past been weaponized in order to run roughshod over those who may be out of favor."