Recall, this initiative of the authorities is known as operation “Udavka 2.0”. We are talking about the second generation of similar actions that began during the Obama presidency in 2013.

Back then, representatives of risky businesses like gun shops were disconnected from banks. As a result, companies faced serious problems that sometimes resulted in the inability to operate.

Former U.S. President Barack Obama

In recent years, the Whack-a-mole has switched to representatives of the cryptocurrency industry. For example, earlier about the problems with banks reported the head of Ripple Brad Garlinghouse.

However, Mark Andriessen’s speech attracted public attention to what is happening. Therefore, many participants of the blockchain niche decided not to keep silent about such an experience.

How does the operation “Udge 2.0” take place?

As Andriessen noted on the podcast, in total, more than 30 entrepreneurs from the crypto industry were deprived of access to banking services in this way. According to the entrepreneur, the authorities pressured bank executives to close certain accounts.

Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Marc Andriessen

Because banks are private businesses, they can really choose who they interact with. And what ended up happening here was a loss of access to financial services. Here’s Mark’s rejoinder on the subject, as quoted by The Block.

Remember that crypto story when everyone was all excited about NFT and everything, and then the fun suddenly stopped? The reason was that almost every crypto project or startup founder either lost their banking services and had to leave the industry, or their companies were cut off from access to banks and couldn’t continue to operate. And many more have been prosecuted, indicted, or at risk of indictment.

Andriessen also recalled the SEC’s practice of sending cryptocurrency companies a so-called Wells Notice, which says an investigation into their activities is underway and a lawsuit is imminent.

These included Uniswap Labs, Robinhood and OpenSea. According to the expert, even this warning has made it much more difficult for these companies to access banks and do business in general. And all this was done on purpose.

Hayden Adams, creator of the decentralised exchange Uniswap.

Mark continues.

The SEC is trying to destroy the crypto industry under Biden, and this has become a serious problem for us, as we are the largest investor in crypto startups.

Roman Storm, co-founder of cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash, which has come under US sanctions, confirmed the relevance of the scenario for him.

I’ve lost count of how many similar things have happened to me in the last 2.5 years.


Importantly, in mid-week, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the US Treasury Department's sanctions on smart contract platform Tornado Cash were unlawful. Accordingly, the mixer should be removed from the relevant list and Americans can access it.

Tyler Winklevoss, co-founder of crypto exchange Gemini, noted that he has also fallen victim to such treatment from banks due to his connection with cryptocurrencies. Moreover, he believes that the actual number of such incidents in the field of coins is much higher than the 30 mark mentioned by Andriessen.

His brother Cameron noted the following.

If you only count such incidents between myself, Tyler Winklevoss, and Winklevoss Capital and Gemini, you can’t count them on the fingers of two hands.

The founders of crypto exchange Gemini are the Winklevoss brothers

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Co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken Jesse Powell also experienced difficulties when dealing with US banks. And the situation threatened to cause problems for the platform’s operations as a whole.

We had no access to the US banking system for several years, while one US company enjoyed a monopoly backed by their powerful investors. That single bank had been “killed” the day before.

We barely made it by focusing on Europe. Kraken has too many stories of customers and employees who lost access to banking services in the US.

Kraken crypto exchange co-founder Jesse Powell and newly elected US President Donald Trump

Frax Finance founder Sam Kazemian was also among the victims of Operation Boost 2.0. He noted that he lost access to some banks a year ago and kept quiet about it on purpose because he was afraid of big problems.

Here is his comment on the matter.

I kept quiet about it for almost a year out of fear, but now – since I’m in good company with Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, Brian Armstrong and Ilon Musk – I might as well tell you. Last December, I got a call from JPMorgan saying the following: “We are forced to close the accounts of anyone whose primary source of income or wealth is tied to cryptocurrencies. This is a direct directive from Jamie himself. We are very sorry.”

Kazemian noted that what is happening is absolutely real and could affect everyone in the coin industry. The entrepreneur expects that soon this attitude to the representatives of the crypto world will end.

Newly elected US President Donald Trump


Apparently, the Democrats' actions against the sphere of cryptocurrencies could really cost them victory in the recent US presidential election. Still, the war on coins from the Securities Commission and other regulators was frankly unfair. And the outcome of the vote confirmed that many people are simply fed up with this attitude.

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