In a move that's reignited fears of "Operation Chokepoint 2.0" — the alleged regulatory squeeze on crypto firms — JPMorgan Chase has abruptly shuttered accounts tied to two prominent industry leaders. Houston Morgan, head of marketing and protocol relations at decentralized exchange ShapeShift, revealed last Friday that the bank terminated his corporate account without warning, and his personal one is next on the chopping block.
It's a carbon copy of the fate that befell Strike CEO Jack Mallers in September 2025, when JPMorgan axed his personal accounts citing vague "concerning activity" but offering zero specifics. Mallers, undeterred, framed the closure notice as a badge of honor, mounting it like a trophy to symbolize banking's war on digital innovation.
This isn't isolated pettiness; it's part of a pattern that's left the crypto community seething. JPMorgan's actions echo the 2013-2014 "Chokepoint" era, when federal pressure led banks to drop high-risk clients en masse, crippling payday lenders and gun sellers.
Crypto insiders now whisper of a sequel, especially as the sector rebounds post-2023 banking crisis that felled firms like Silvergate and Signature.
Strike, a Bitcoin payments powerhouse with over 1 million users and $500 million in venture backing, wasn't spared—despite Mallers' vocal advocacy for Lightning Network adoption.
ShapeShift, a pioneer in non-custodial trading since 2014, joins the list, its executive now scrambling for alternatives amid whispers of broader debanking waves.
Compounding the drama, JPMorgan appears to be sharpening its knives elsewhere. The bank offloaded $134 million in MicroStrategy shares during Q3 2025 — 772,453 shares trimmed from its holdings — amid rumors of a massive short position on the Bitcoin-holding software firm. Observers speculate this could be an "existentially threatening" bet, potentially bankrupting JPM if MicroStrategy's stock (up 450% YTD on BTC's rally) squeezes 50% higher.
Michael Saylor's company, with 252,220 BTC on its balance sheet worth $22 billion at current prices, has become a lightning rod; JPM's moves smell like a coordinated assault to some, timed with recycled warnings of delisting risks from a 42-day-old MSCI document that allegedly sparked an October 10 crypto dip.
Yet here's the jaw-dropper: While slamming the door on crypto's foot soldiers, JPMorgan's own analysts are singing Bitcoin's praises. In a November 2025 report, the bank dubbed BTC a "tradable macro asset," forecasting a climb to $240,000 as it challenges gold's $28.3 trillion market cap.
That's up from earlier calls of $170,000 by mid-2026, with $94,000 pegged as the recent bottom. Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou's team argues BTC's scarcity and institutional inflows — $18 billion into spot ETFs YTD — position it as a hedge against fiat debasement, even as the Fed eyes rate cuts. JPM's own Onyx blockchain processes $1 billion daily in tokenized assets, and its JPM Coin stablecoin has settled $700 billion in transactions since 2020.
This hypocrisy isn't subtle — it's strategic. By debanking rivals like Strike (a direct threat to traditional remittances) and ShapeShift (a DEX dodging custody regs), JPM clears the field for its own forays: A crypto custody service launched in 2024 now holds $2 billion in client assets, and pilots for Bitcoin ETFs are in the works.
Shorting MicroStrategy? It pressures Saylor's BTC treasury play while JPM scoops up discounted shares or hedges via futures. It's classic Wall Street jujitsu: Demonize the disruptors publicly (remember CEO Jamie Dimon's 2017 "fraud" rant?), then profit quietly as the asset matures.
The fallout? A boycott chorus is swelling. Real estate mogul Grant Cardone blasted JPM on social media, vowing to pull $4 billion in client funds, while crypto voices decry it as anti-innovation sabotage. Senator Cynthia Lummis, a BTC advocate, called for probes into "selective debanking." With Trump's August 2025 executive order banning such practices against crypto, JPM's moves could invite SEC scrutiny — or worse, fuel the push for decentralized finance that renders banks obsolete.
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JPMorgan, the $3.9 trillion behemoth, isn't quaking yet. But as Bitcoin eyes $100,000 by year-end (per 70% of analysts surveyed by Finder), its double game risks backfiring. Crypto's not the tulip mania Dimon decried — it's a $2.5 trillion market with 420 million users. Squeeze too hard, and the innovators might just build around you. For now, Morgan and Mallers are collateral damage in a banker’s chess match where Bitcoin’s the king — and JPM's playing both sides.
