Cardano founder weighs in on letter accusing US regulators of war on crypto

Amid a widespread regulatory offensive against the cryptocurrency industry that has recently culminated with a lawsuit against the world’s largest crypto trading platform Binance, Cardano (ADA) founder Charles Hoskinson has commented on a law firm’s letter addressed to the United States Congress in which it is calling out the regulators.

Indeed, the law firm Cooper & Kirk has written a 35-page long document called “Operation Choke Point 2.0: The Federal Bank Regulators Come For Crypto,” which Hoskinson described as “meticulously resourced,” a “fascinating read,” and “the most detailed letter I’ve seen about this” in his YouTube video streamed on March 29.

Operation Choke Point 2.0

As it happens, the letter reminds the reader of Operation Choke Point, in which regulators “carried out a coordinated campaign to weaponize the banks against industries that had fallen out of favor with the administration, including gun stores, pawn shops, tobacco stores, payday lenders, and a host of other brick-and-mortar businesses.”

“Our firm successfully challenged Operation Choke Point, and it was brought to a halt. The current bout of regulatory overreach against the crypto industry is illegal for much the same reason as its predecessor.”

In “Operation Choke Point 2.0,” the law firm claims is currently underway, “a coordinated campaign by prudential bank regulators to drive crypto businesses out of the financial system” or simply a “war on crypto” is taking place, the letter reads.

Cooper & Kirk was referring to the “informal guidance documents that single out cryptocurrency and cryptocurrency customers as a risk to the banking system.” As a result, crypto firms are “losing their bank accounts or their access to the ACH network,” and their owners and employees are “even having their personal accounts closed (…) suddenly, and with no explanation.”

Finally, the law firm urges Congress “to perform its oversight role and hold these agencies to account,” as well as proposing “a series of questions that need to be answered and a series of steps that Congress should take in an effort to obtain these answers.”

Hoskinson’s two cents

In conclusion, the Cardano founder recommended his viewers to forward the letter to their congresspeople and senators, as it was “just a great letter to read and a great letter to send and it’s written in a language they would certainly understand and, again, this law firm really outdid itself in it.”

“Just print out the whole thing and say: ‘Hey, you should definitely read this and realize that this is going on and this is regulatory abuse and they are taking the power away from you, the Congress, and they are taking it themselves and here’s all the risk and damage that’s been done.’”

Previously, Hoskinson had some scathing words for the new White House Economic Report that criticized digital assets as too speculative and risky, and offering no fundamental value, calling it “bullshit,” “a pathetic joke,” and a “piece of garbage,” as Finbold reported on March 23.

Watch the entire video below:

Featured image via Messari YouTube