JPMorgan Chase shuts ShapeShift employee’s business account, says his personal account will be next

JPMorgan Chase has closed another bank account belonging to a crypto industry member, following this week’s news that the bank abruptly shut down accounts belonging to Strike CEO Jack Mallers — a move that reignited fears of crypto debanking in the U.S.

The latest case involves Houston Morgan, ShapeShift’s head of marketing and protocol relations, who told The Block that Chase shut his business bank account on Friday and informed him that his personal account will also be closed this week.

Morgan, who is based in Los Angeles, said the action came without warning. ShapeShift is a non-custodial crypto trading platform that also operates as a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO).

"At about 3:40 PM PST on Nov. 21, I received a text message from Chase stating that they ‘needed more information’ from me and that my account was at risk of being closed," Morgan said. "This came out of nowhere. I hadn’t been contacted about any issues, missing documents, or irregular activity." Minutes later, he said he was unable to log in to either his business or personal accounts at the bank.

Morgan said he immediately called Chase and spent about half an hour being transferred between departments — general support, business banking, account review, and others. "Nobody could give me clear answers," he said. "Nobody asked me for clarification about my business or any documents. I felt like I was being passed around without any attempt to resolve the issue."

Eventually, he reached a representative named "Andre," who told him the decision had already been made. Andre said Chase was "discontinuing business" with him to "protect the financial institution of Chase," Morgan said.

"He could not provide any additional information due to policy. I was not given any opportunity to fix anything, provide documents, or appeal the decision," Morgan added.

Morgan said his business account — tied to ShapeShift's DAO structure — was frozen immediately. He estimates it held roughly $40,000 but said he cannot verify the exact amount because he no longer has access to statements. As part of ShapeShift's DAO operations, each workstream functions as its own entity; as head of marketing, Morgan maintained a business account for payments and contracts related to his workstream, he said. "So I suppose a pseudo ShapeShift account," Morgan said, adding that he used it actively with 30–50 transactions a month.

Morgan said Andre warned him during the call that his personal account will also be closed the following week. Because it had not yet been frozen, he was advised to move his funds out — which he did.

Morgan said he has not yet heard of any other ShapeShift-related accounts being affected but plans to ask colleagues during an upcoming internal meeting.

Last week, Strike's Mallers also said JPMorgan Chase had closed his accounts and rejected some deposits to Strike, telling customers the business "participates in fraudulent activities." His case drew political reaction: U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming said the closures show that "Operation Chokepoint 2.0 regrettably lives on," adding that such policies "undermine confidence in traditional banks and send the digital asset industry overseas."

The incidents come despite President Donald Trump's recent executive order directing federal regulators not to punish banks that work with crypto companies.

JPMorgan Chase did not respond to The Block's request for comment by publication time.

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