PANews reported on December 19 that the senior officials of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have given high attention to the phenomenon of cryptocurrency companies and their executives being shut out by banks. In comments made on Wednesday, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce expressed doubts about a nearly $400 million budget proposed for the fiscal year 2025 by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). Peirce pointed out that the PCAOB has decided to focus on companies that hold large amounts of cryptocurrency or facilitate cryptocurrency trading. She stated, 'In recent weeks, the efforts by regulators to prevent regulated entities from engaging in the cryptocurrency space have been made public.'
When deciding not to approve the PCAOB's budget request, Peirce further inquired how the board could select subjects for investigation while not discouraging auditors, issuers, and broker-dealers from entering the cryptocurrency space. However, Peirce's opinion was not adopted, and three other commissioners, including SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, voted against it.
Previously, the cryptocurrency industry had accused that it was being collectively pushed out of the traditional banking system for several weeks. Against this backdrop, Peirce made the above comments. Cryptocurrency venture capitalist Nic Carter referred to this so-called exclusion as 'Operation Choke Point 2.0.'