Marc Andreessen exposes debanking of tech start-up founders who are seen as threats to financial industry

Tech billionaire and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen appeared on "The Joe Rogan Experience," where he delved into the topic of debanking, a practice he claims has disproportionately targeted right-leaning individuals and businesses.

Andreessen explained that debanking occurs when an individual or company is removed from the banking system, losing access to accounts and becoming unable to make financial transactions. He claimed that under current banking regulations, there is a category called a “politically exposed person" (PEP) and if a person falls under this category then financial regulators are required to kick them out of their bank.

Andreessen went on to claim that this standard has been exclusively applied to right-wing voices and he is not aware of anyone on the left who has faced such consequences. He explained that although there are constitutional protections for a person’s freedom of speech, nothing in the Constitution bars the government from putting pressure on private banks to debank specific individuals or companies.

“It’s basically a privatized sanctions regime that lets bureaucrats do to American citizens the same thing we do to Iran: just kick you out of the financial system,” Andressen said. 

He went on to tie the rise of debanking to Operation Choke Point, an Obama-era initiative targeting bank accounts suspected of fraud. Andreessen alleged that the program was used to target controversial but lawful industries such as firearms, medical marijuana, and prostitution. Under the Biden administration, the practices have escalated to what he referred to as "Operation Choke Point 2.0," targeting crypto entrepreneurs, tech founders, and political opponents. One of the reasons, Andressen claims, is because the government is protecting big banks against entrepreneurs attempting to start new banking services. 

Andreessen, a former software engineer and a co-founder of several tech companies, told Rogan that in the tech industry, about 30 founders have been debanked in just the last four years.

“This is one of the reasons why we ended up supporting Trump,” Andreessen explained. “We can’t live in a world where somebody starts a company that’s a completely legal thing and then they literally like, get sanctioned, and embargoed by the United States government.”

He criticized the lack of transparency and accountability in the process. “No due process, none of this is written down, there’s no rules, there’s no court, there’s no decision process, there’s no appeal,” he said.

When asked by Rogan what debanked individuals could do, Andreessen responded bluntly: “Go into a different field.” He said that individuals must find a way to get out of “whatever zone got you into this” and to keep applying for bank accounts until a bank hopefully accepts them. These individuals will also be forced to make cash-only payments or potentially place their money in an overseas bank account.

Andresseen used these practices as an example of what Trump means when he refers to the “deep state,” describing it as “administrative power” unaccountable to legislation, regulation, or judicial oversight. 

“It’s just raw power,” he said. “The government or politicians just deciding that things are going to be a certain way and then they just apply pressure until they get it.”