08-07-2025 
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United States President Donald Trump could be about to sign an executive order directing banking regulators to investigate claims from digital asset sector participants of debanking, as well as claims from conservatives of political discrimination, according to a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report.
The WSJ claimed to have viewed a draft of the impending order directing bank regulators to investigate whether financial institutions might have violated the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, antitrust laws, or consumer financial-protection laws. Those who violated the laws could face fines or other legal action.
The report claimed that Trump could sign the order as soon as this week, citing people who were “familiar with the matter.” However, it acknowledged that the President could still delay or change this plan.
The digital asset industry has long bemoaned the so-called “debanking” that began under Trump’s predecessors, former U.S. President Joe Biden.
Essentially, it refers to the process of financial institutions restricting or terminating banking services for certain businesses due to regulatory concerns, compliance risks, or perceived instability—or in the case of digital assets, all of these factors.
An unofficial official policy
Under the Biden administration, key U.S. financial sector regulators appeared to notably increase their scrutiny of digital asset firms in the light of several high-profile collapses and scandals in the sector, including FTX and Terra-Luna in 2022.
This unofficial policy was accompanied by the Federal Reserve (Fed), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)—who together make up the chief regulators of the U.S. banking sector—issuing a joint statement in January 2023 warning banks about the risks of dealing with digital asset-related businesses.
The Fed later appeared to confirm this new stance when it published an order denying Custodia Bank’s application for membership, citing concerns about the risks of digital assets.
In February 2023, digital currency advocate and venture capitalist Nic Carter coined the term “Operation Choke Point 2.0” to describe what he believed was this coordinated attempt by federal agencies to limit digital asset banking activity.
Meanwhile, other industry advocates saw the collapse of several digital currency-friendly banks—namely Silvergate, Signature Bank, and Silicon Valley Bank—as the logical outcome of this hardline approach to the sector.
Despite this evidence, digital asset debanking—or the so-called ‘Operation Choke Point 2.0’—was never acknowledged as an official policy of the Biden administration or the Banking sector regulators.
De-debanking
The inauguration of vocal-crypto-champion Donald Trump for his second term as President, in January 2025, heralded a changing tide for the digital asset industry.
As well as introducing a strategic Bitcoin reserve, pushing for stablecoin regulation, and installing crypto-favorable new heads to several key regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the President has encouraged Republican lawmakers to reverse debanking.
A month after Trump took office, Travis Hill, the acting chairman of the FDIC, announced on February 6 that the organization was “actively reevaluating our supervisory approach to crypto-related activities.”
This was shortly followed by the Trump administration dismantling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a federal agency tasked with supporting consumers in their dealings with financial institutions, such as banks, credit unions, payday lenders, debt collectors, and digital asset exchanges. After being appointed, acting CFPB director Russel Vought told staff to “cease all supervision and examination activity” and to halt any enforcement actions.Next, the OCC clarified that digital asset activities are, in fact, allowed in the federal banking system. In a March 7 “Letter 1183,” the agency confirmed that: “Crypto-asset custody, certain stablecoin activities, and participation in independent node verification networks such as distributed ledger are permissible for national banks and federal savings associations.”
The letter also rescinded a requirement for OCC-supervised institutions to receive supervisory nonobjection—explicit approval from regulators—and demonstrate that they have adequate controls before engaging in digital asset activities.
On April 24, the Board of Governors of the Fed said it was rescinding its 2022 supervisory letter establishing an expectation that state member banks provide advance notification of digital asset activities.
“The Board will no longer expect banks to provide notification and will instead monitor banks’ crypto-asset activities through the normal supervisory process,” said the statement. The Board also rescinded a 2023 supervisory letter requiring banks to seek regulators’ permission before engaging in stablecoin activities.
The same day, in a related announcement, the Fed joined the FDIC and OCC to withdraw their 2023 joint statements regarding banks’ digital asset activities and exposures.
Meanwhile, in the legislative realm, Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-SC) published a bill on March 6 to combat digital asset debanking. The ‘Financial Integrity and Regulation Management (FIRM) Act’ would curtail the “weaponization of federal banking agencies by eliminating the ability for regulators to use reputational risk” as a measure to determine the safety and soundness of regulated financial institutions.
The bill was advanced by the Senate Banking Committee and has been placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar, where it awaits further debate.
All these moves have significantly made banks feel more secure and confident in their interactions with the digital asset space. However, it now appears Trump may want to send a more explicit message regarding debanking.
Trump’s mooted order
Based on the WSJ report, the rumored executive order directs bank regulators to scrap any policies that may have contributed to banks dropping or rejecting certain customers, such as digital asset firms and conservatives.
In terms of the latter group, in January, Trump admonished the Bank of America (NASDAQ: BAC) and JPMorgan (NASDAQ: JPM) for allegedly not providing banking services to conservatives—a claim the banks later denied.
The mooted executive order also reportedly directs the U.S. government’s Small Business Administration to review banking practices that guarantee the loans made by the agency to small businesses.
Finally, it apparently instructs regulators to refer any potential violations to the attorney general so that the Department of Justice can follow up.
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