Caitlin Long, founder and CEO of Custodia Bank, expressed gratitude to Senator Cynthia Lummis for her remarks concerning Michael Barr's alleged failure in his role as Vice Chair for Supervision. Long attributed this failure to enabling "Operation Choke Point 2.0." The statement was made on the social media platform X on January 7.
"The Fed's Michael Barr 'illegally increas[ed] his power at the cost of Wyoming's digital asset industry," said Long, Founder/CEO. "For all fellow Wyomingites watching, today Wyoming won a battle against the Fed. It's not over yet..."
In her post, Long highlighted Barr’s purported misuse of authority and commended Lummis for addressing the issue. She also mentioned that Wyoming had achieved a significant victory against federal regulators but cautioned that the battle is "not over yet."
Caitlin Long's X post
| x.com
According to Crypto Briefing, Operation Choke Point 2.0 is an initiative by the Biden administration and U.S. regulators aimed at limiting the cryptocurrency industry's access to the banking system. This effort mirrors the original Operation Choke Point under the Obama administration, which reportedly targeted specific industries such as payday lenders and firearms dealers through regulatory pressure. The current operation is said to focus on crypto businesses by urging banks to cut ties with these entities.
David Sacks, serving as the new AI and Crypto Czar in the Trump administration, addressed concerns regarding "Operation Choke Point 2.0," describing it as a regulatory effort detrimental to cryptocurrency businesses. Responding to comments from Chris Lane, former Chief Technology Officer of Silvergate Bank, Sacks emphasized the need to scrutinize regulatory actions that contributed to Silvergate's collapse. Lane noted that despite being solvent after the FTX collapse, Silvergate faced mounting restrictions from regulators, leading to its liquidation and severely affecting its ability to serve cryptocurrency clients, according to Yahoo Finance.
Salt reports that Caitlin Long has been involved with Bitcoin since 2012 and previously held senior positions at Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, and Salomon Brothers. From 2016-2018, she led a blockchain project for Vanguard as chairman and president of Symbiont. A native of Wyoming, Long graduated from Harvard Law School, the Kennedy School of Government, and the University of Wyoming.
Custodia Bank was established as a compliant bridge to the U.S. dollar payments system and a custodian of digital assets while adhering to strict institutional custody standards. It complies with all relevant federal and state laws, including the Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering regulations along with Wyoming’s special purpose depository institution laws which mandate 100% fiat reserves and enforce stringent consumer protections for digital assets.
