Marc Andreessen, general partner of Andreessen Horowitz, has criticized Operation Chokepoint 2.0 as an exercise of "raw administrative power" targeting lawful businesses without due process. Andreessen made these remarks during an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast on November 26.
"There's no due process. None of this is written down. There's no rules, there's no court, there's no decision process, there's no appeal," said Andreessen. "It's just raw administrative power."
According to CCN, Operation Chokepoint 2.0 refers to a purported effort by U.S. government agencies to limit banking access for cryptocurrency and certain technology sectors. This initiative is viewed as a continuation of the original Operation Chokepoint, which pressured banks to cut ties with industries such as payday lending and firearms dealers, effectively restricting their access to financial services.
Andreessen said that Chokepoint 2.0 is enforced through informal government pressure rather than formal legislation or regulation. He explained on The Joe Rogan Experience Podcast, "There’s no due process. None of this is written down. There’s no rules, there’s no court, there’s no decision process, there’s no appeal." This exercise of "raw administrative power," as he called it, allows government agencies to pressure banks into compliance without accountability or transparency, leaving businesses defenseless.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Tesla CEO and X founder Elon Musk said, "Did you know that 30 tech founders were secretly debanked?" in response to a clip from The Joe Rogan Experience podcast. In the clip, Andreessen said, "We’ve had, like, 30 founders debanked in the last four years," while discussing how Chokepoint 2.0 impacts tech startups and individuals.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong responded to Musk's claim by saying "Can confirm this is true." Armstrong described the situation as "one of the most unethical and un-American things that happened in the Biden administration" and mentioned his team is "still collecting documents via FOIA requests" to uncover the full details.
Andreessen is a co-founder and general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. He co-created the Mosaic web browser and co-founded Netscape, which was acquired by AOL for $4.2 billion. Andreessen also co-founded Loudcloud, later renamed Opsware, which was sold to Hewlett-Packard for $1.6 billion. He earned a BS in computer science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and has served on the boards of Hewlett-Packard (2008–2018), Meta Platforms Inc., and several Andreessen Horowitz portfolio companies including Coinbase, Samsara Inc., and Flow.
