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When Marc Andreessen went on The Joe Rogan Experience and said that 30 of the founders of the a16z wallet had gone bankrupt, or had their bank accounts arbitrarily closed, a group of crypto personalities joined in to protest the US banking system.

While dissatisfaction with the banking system is nothing new in the cryptocurrency space, the narrative around bank breakups — which we still know relatively little about — has given new ammunition to teams working to create alternatives to banks. At Solana, projects ranging from chain banks to subscription services are making their case for the unbanked and those without bank accounts to sign up. What is not clear is whether today's banking alternatives can succeed where previous iterations failed.

After Joe Rogan's podcast aired, Squads Labs Research Director Shimon Newman began working on a report on the contours of a federal conspiracy to break up crypto entrepreneurs and startups — known in the crypto space as Operation Chokepoint 2.0. An early version of the report shared with Lightspeed highlights how US regulators view there to be too much risk associated with cryptocurrencies – a perception that extends to fintech and payment service providers. As a result, there has been a large number of debankings, although detailed data on the exact number of cryptocurrency-related debankings is still scarce.

The Newman report cites data Saying An estimated 0.1% of money laundered is intercepted through current anti-money laundering efforts less More than 1% of the volume of cryptocurrencies is illegal. But whether the cryptocurrency campaign is worthwhile or not, Squads is cashing in on it: The startup's smart wallet app has begun offering a "virtual US bank account" that can accept bank transfers and convert dollars into stablecoins for low fees. It does not provide credit-related services such as obtaining a loan, Newman said.

Iron is also building a “networked bank” on Solana, though its founder’s public messaging has focused on the benefits of stablecoins rather than the scourge of bank breakups in recent days.

Today CFX Labs founder Nick Cavet pitched me on his startup idea of ​​“rebanking,” where USD deposits could be tokenized and essentially run on rails alongside the traditional banking system.

Serge Korg, co-founder of growing subscription app Solana DePlan, has started another initiative called Subdoor that allows people to pay for subscriptions with cryptocurrencies. I have bent In the unbanking narrative as well, though he noted in text messages that there are far more people who are unbanked — or never had access to banking to begin with — in the world.

The narrative that banks are too opaque and devoid of accountability for wrongdoing has caught a second wind of bank breakups, but it is not a new story. History suggests that any encryption of banking operations requires the involvement of regulatory bodies as well. For some, the story of vandalism is already over.

“Being unbanked is a year-old story. It's getting fintech's attention because it's a 10-year-old story,” Cavett said in a text message.

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