Trump’s repeal of Biden EO’s did not include 14067 which enabled Choke Point 2.0

Trump announced the repeal of 78 executive orders on his first day in office, but did not include 14067. The president is also yet to commute Ross Ulbricht’s Silk Road prison sentence.

The president did not mention repealing Biden’s EO 14067, which was the executive order on digital assets that enabled Chokepoint 2.0. Biden and a group of U.S. regulators initiated the Operation Choke Point 2.0 program to restrict the crypto industry’s access to the banking system.

Trump fails to repeal Biden’s 14067 executive order

Trump’s repeal of Biden EO’s did not include 14067 which was the executive order on digital assets that enabled Chokepoint 2.0

So career officials at regulatory offices still currently have broad over reach powers against entities dealing with crypto….

— Adam Cochran (adamscochran.eth) (@adamscochran) January 21, 2025

Donald Trump was inaugurated yesterday as the 47th president of the United States, and the world was waiting for him to deliver his promises on his first day in office. The crypto community was waiting for Trump to revoke Biden’s 14067 executive order as promised, but it did not happen.

“As president, I will immediately shut down Operation Choke Point 2.0. They want to choke you out of business; we’re not going to let that happen.”

~ Donald Trump, U.S. President, at the 2024 Bitcoin conference.

Executive order 14067, titled “Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets,” was signed on March 9, 2022. Crypto businesses that had long been overshadowed by the executive order, as well as observers aware of its unfair targeting of the industry, were shocked that Trump did not mention it yesterday.

Adam Cochran, a financial expert, posted that Trump’s repeal of Biden EO’s did not include 14067. Cochran believes that career officials at regulatory offices still had broad overreach powers against entities dealing with crypto.

The finance guru expressed his distress after Trump repealed 78 EOs, but “couldn’t even get the digital assets one.” Cochran also said he was displeased that Trump had time to remove parts of the inflation reduction act, but none of the crypto day one promises.

One user argued that Trump had just gotten into office and that his recent purchases on crypto still made him bullish. He also revealed that it might be bad for traders in the short term, especially those who banked on Trump to sign the order yesterday.  

Cochran stated that of all the day one crypto promises, the one that will hurt people the most is the “free Ross” one. Trump told attendees at the 2024 Libertarian National Convention in May last year that he would commute Ross Ulbricht’s sentence once he is in office.

Choke Point 2.0 limits the crypto ecosystem

Choke Point 2.0 was considered a successor to the original Operation Choke Point, launched under the Obama administration in 2013 and terminated by Trump in 2017. Both initiatives investigated banks and their relationships with certain high-risk industries to combat fraud and money laundering. 

Biden’s administration had denied the existence of Operation Choke Point 2.0, but critics argued that enforcement actions by several regulators had proven its existing operations. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Federal Deposit and Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) were believed to discourage banks from providing crypto services to crypto firms.

The operation became clear after the federal regulators issued a joint statement in January 2023 warning banks about crypto asset risks. The decision was followed by the collapse of two major players in the crypto banking industry, Silvergate Bank and Signature Bank. 

Signature Bank also experienced a bank run following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). Regulators took over the bank even though it was still financially healthy at the time. One of Signature Bank’s board members argued that its downfall was a clear message from regulators saying they wanted to discourage banks from dealing with the crypto sector.

Recently, several members from the crypto community have revealed that Operation Choke Point 2.0 was not just a theory. Paul Grewal, Coinbase Chief Legal Officer, disclosed in December that the company received “pause letters” through Freedom of Information Act requests. Grewal confirmed that the letters showed the FDC actively urged banks to halt or avoid crypto-related activities in 2022.

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