Strike CEO Jack Mallers dropped by JPMorgan amid banking chill concerns

Jack Mallers said on Sunday that JPMorgan shut down all the accounts he held with the bank in September, with no warning and no clear reason, only a letter that claimed “concerning activity” had been found during routine monitoring.

Jack said every attempt to get answers led him to the exact same line: “We aren’t allowed to tell you.” He also said his father, who had been a private client at the bank for more than 30 years, was removed at the same time.

The bank’s letter added that it “may not be able to open new accounts for you in the future,” and it cited the Bank Secrecy Act.

Jack shared the letter online and said the situation showed how banks still treat crypto executives, bringing back the long debate about quiet pressure inside the financial system and whether people in crypto still face targeted shutdowns disguised as compliance actions.

President Donald Trump had signed an August order that banned banks from cutting ties with crypto‑related activities. That order said banks were using practices that had already been ruled out and that some people aligned with conservative views had faced problems getting basic financial services.

Political voices respond to Jack Mallers

Bo Hines, who led Trump’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets during Trump’s first term and now works as a Strategic Advisor at Tether, reacted to Jack’s post.

Bo said, “Hey Chase… you guys know Operation Choke Point is over, right? Just checking.” His line pointed at the long argument in the crypto community that regulators under former President Joe Biden pushed banks to avoid crypto clients.

Donald Trump also said in June that he had been targeted by large banks because of his politics. Trump said, “I can tell you, because I’ve been a victim myself because of my politics, that big banks were very nasty to us.” 

Eric Trump added in May that “some of the biggest banks in the world” had closed accounts for him and his family near the end of Trump’s first term. Eric said that was one of the reasons his family leaned further into crypto.

Jack had already taken a shot at JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon last year during a Yahoo Finance interview. Jack said, “What do I think about Jeffrey Epstein’s banker being concerned that a distributed, decentralized, open public money could potentially be used for bad things, sitting on a ski resort in Davos? I don’t really care.”

People in crypto use the phrase Operation Chokepoint 2.0 to describe what they claim happened during the Biden years, when federal regulators were believed to pressure banks into dropping crypto companies and executives.

The name comes from Operation Choke Point, an Obama‑era Department of Justice effort that pushed banks to stay away from industries labeled as “high‑risk,” including firearm sellers and payday lenders.

Jason Allegrante, the Chief Legal and Compliance Officer at Fireblocks, said attempts to deprive crypto companies of normal banking would only push the industry to other countries.

Jason said, “Trying to choke off crypto won’t make it go away, it’ll just push it to thrive elsewhere and leave the US behind.” He also said that giving regulators broad power to decide who gets access created “major questions about who can access the US financial system” and “undermines the democratic rule of law for everyone.”

A filing from JPMorgan on November 5 said the firm “is responding to requests from government authorities and other external parties” about its policies and how it serves customers. The filing also said some matters were moving through reviews, investigations, and legal actions.

During a discussion in Davos, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan asked Trump about how early executive orders might affect the economy. Trump replied:

“I hope you start opening your bank to conservatives, because many conservatives complain that the banks are not allowing them to do business within the bank, and that included a place called Bank of America.”

Trump then said to Brian and to Jamie Dimon, “I don’t know if the regulators mandated that because of Biden or what, but you and Jamie and everybody, I hope you’re going to open your banks to conservatives because what you’re doing is wrong.”

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