JPMorgan Chase recently announced the closure of a bank account belonging to a ShapeShift executive. This decision followed reports indicating that the bank had abruptly closed accounts belonging to Strike CEO Jack Mallers, sparking tension in the crypto industry due to concerns about crypto debanking in the US.
The latest incident involves Houston Morgan, who serves as the Head of Marketing and Protocol Relations at ShapeShift, a non-custodial crypto trading platform. Following the bank’s move, Morgan mentioned that Chase decided to close his business bank account on Friday, November 21. He also informed reporters that his personal account is next in line, scheduled to be shut down this week.
According to a notable figure in the crypto industry, the bank’s move was conducted without any warning. Notably, Morgan lives in Los Angeles, a city in California in the US. On the other hand, ShapeShift does not hold its clients’ funds and operates as a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO).
Chase shuts down Morgan’s business account
In a statement, Morgan mentioned that he received a text from Chase at about 3:40 PM PST on November 21. The text stated that the bank required more details from him and that his business account was at risk of being shut down.
Morgan pointed out that such a move was unexpected, as no one had earlier contacted him about any issues with his account, reported a situation where documents were missing, or any unusual activity. Meanwhile, just after receiving the text from the bank, he noticed that he could no longer log into either his business or personal accounts at Chase.
After this finding, Morgan stated that he immediately took action and called the bank to inquire about the incident. This took him around thirty minutes as he was transferred between various departments in Chase. These departments included: general support, business banking, and account review.
Still, he claimed that no one gave him a straightforward answer. Additionally, no one in these departments requested details about his business or any supporting documents. Morgan expressed that he felt as if these people were passing him around without any attempt to solve his problem.
Finally, he got the chance to speak to a representative in the bank, who was known as “Andre.” Andre openly told Morgan that a decision about the bank account had already been made, informing him that Chase was ending business with him to safeguard the institution of the bank, Morgan reported.
“He couldn’t give me any more information because of policy. I wasn’t given a chance to fix anything, submit documents, or appeal the decision,” he added.
At this point, Morgan mentioned that his business account, connected to ShapeShift’s DAO structure, was frozen. When reporters asked him about the total amount of money currently in the bank account, he estimated that it contained approximately $40,000 but could not confirm the exact figure, as Chase no longer provides him with access to his statements.
Concerning the operations of ShapeShift’s DAO, it is worth noting that each workstream functions as its own unit. Morgan maintained a business account specifically created to handle payments and contracts related to his workstream. Therefore, this activity led analysts to conclude that the account was a type of ShapeShift account. Morgan further explained that he could use it frequently to carry out 30–50 transactions monthly.
Andre warns Morgan about Chase’s plans on his personal account
Morgan publicly stated that Andre had cautioned him that his personal account would be closed the following week during their call. As it had not been frozen yet, he was instructed to transfer his funds, which he did.
Morgan said he was not aware of any other ShapeShift-associated accounts being affected yet, but hopes to ask his colleagues about it during a soon-to-be-held internal meeting.
In the meantime, Mallers from Strike complained last week that JPMorgan Chase had closed down his accounts and rejected some deposits to Strike, saying the business was participating in fraudulent activities.
This situation prompted US Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming to weigh in on the topic of discussion. Lummis remarked that these closures illustrate that “Operation Chokepoint 2.0 unfortunately continues,” and said that actions of this nature “undermine trust in traditional banks and push the digital asset industry overseas.”
These events occurred even after a recent executive order from President Donald Trump telling federal regulators not to penalize banks working with crypto firms.
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Source: https://www.cryptopolitan.com/jpmorgans-account-shutdown-hits-shapeshift/
