On Tuesday, famous tech and crypto investor, Marc Andreesson appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience.
View our Fair Use Policy: here
During the three hour interview, Marc covered a range of topics, mostly centered on recent government corruption he has seen or experienced and why that pushed him to vote for President Trump even though he was traditionally democrat.
For those in the cannabis industry, one topic stood high above the rest. Operation Choke Point, a DOJ initiative started in 2013 that forces banks to remove accounts of individuals and business they didn’t like, including political opponents. Operation Choke Point was expanded sometime after 2020 to also include crypto and banking startups and businesses.
As one of the world’s leading crypto investors, Marc focused on more recent instances in the tech and crypto world that he directly knows about. In these instances he cited both founders and employees who have been cut completely out of the banking system and are forced to operate entirely with cash.
As soon as the episode was released, Cannabis entrepreneurs, among others, immediately erupted with stories of being debanked online. They posted mostly on 𝕏, where they feel certain they won’t be censored for discussing and reporting government and banking corruption.
A quick search for ‘cannabis debank’ on X reveals an endless stream of posts echoing the woes of even getting a bank account to begin with and often later on, being shut down and banned from any and all banks and credit card companies.
It should be noted, being targeted by Operation Choke Point specifically, is different than the difficulty every cannabis company has to even get a bank account in the first place. Once Choke Point identifies a business or individual, they notify all FDIC insured banks and remove the ability to get a bank account anywhere. They do this to businesses and individuals alike. Sometimes both.
Because Marc only talked about stories from the tech industry, Jesse Barney with High at 9 News tracked down cannabis stories about being debanked and several were immediately willing to share their experience.
Angel Ortiz, Co-Founder of Mylars LLC, in New Mexico says, “In October 2023, I had a pretty shocking experience with Chase Bank. Out of nowhere, my [personal] account was shut down without any warning or explanation. I immediately reached out to Chase, but even the branch managers couldn’t tell me why it happened. It was frustrating, to say the least.
While I never got an official reason from Chase, I can’t help but wonder if my business had something to do with it.
What made it worse was trying to open new accounts. I applied for credit cards and personal checking accounts at Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Ally Express Bank—only to be denied by all of them. It felt like I was being blacklisted.
The whole experience was a wake-up call about how hard it can be to navigate the financial system as a cannabis entrepreneur, even when everything you’re doing is completely above board. ”
Kyle Sherman, the CEO of Flowhub, a cannabis related software company, had this to say, “ I started this business 10 years ago. And since those early days, Wells Fargo, Bank of America… we've been kicked out of accounts with them. It’s just painful. Having to deal with trying to find institutions that will work for us.
I mean try to find a bank that understood that we were just a tech company. We integrate with state regulatory bodies like Metrc and Biotrack. We're very friendly with all these organizations, and these regulatory bodies. You’d think that we would qualify for a bank account. But we’re viewed as a cannabis company, not a tech company.
And yes, I have been personally debanked. Chase personally debanked me many years ago, and shut down my accounts. Again without warning it was just a letter and then I had to figure out where to go.
I think the problem with this is that it's completely uncertain. You can't plan.
And that's both personal and business, so that's where the stress comes from. You can't sleep easy. You could lose your cash. So I self custody crypto. That's also like [holding] cash. Not only am I an institution today, I'm also spread across various bank accounts. It's unbelievable.
We’re [in] a $35 billion industry that is legal in most states. It's ridiculous that a federally chartered bank or state chartered bank would shut you down, for dealing in legal activity. If it was illegal, the federal government would be raiding our homes. They would be raiding our businesses. But they can't do that. And they know they can't do that, so they take this other enforcement angle. Which is, to put pressure on institutions to try to shut you down. Which is illegal.”
Kim Rivers, the CEO of Trulieve, said “I had all of my personal accounts shut down by Wells Fargo after banking with them for over 20 years and cannot get accounts with any of the big banks. Very common with folks who work in the industry.”
Ron Brandon CEO of Kingston Royal in California had a similar story. After detailing a long arduous journey of losing account after account, he said this about being forced to hold cash: “ I felt safer with the cash in my possession then the money in the bank at one point. At least I knew it was bolted to the ground in the building where we had security and I wasn't that far away if something went down. I felt more safe at night with that scenario than the cash being in the bank.”
These stories are the tip of the iceberg. Just a tiny sample of the pattern existing in just one industry out of dozens affected. The federal government has also been applying a similar tactic by pressuring social media companies to censor these same companies and people as well.
In the Joe Rogan interview, Mr. Andreesson contends that their are people in the incoming administration who are hungry to address this scandal of criminal activity perpetrated on American business, and open up banking to emergent and fringe industries like cannabis, crypto and so many others.
Let’s hope, for the future of our livelihoods, he is right.
Comentários