JPMorgan has temporarily halted plans to re-onboard the cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, following a very public clash over access to consumer banking data.
The move comes just days after Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss accused the bank of trying to “kill fintech and crypto companies.”
At the heart of the dispute is Plaid, a widely used fintech service that helps users link their bank accounts to apps like Gemini, Coinbase, and other financial platforms.
On July 20, Winklevoss alleged that JPMorgan is deliberately making it harder for customers to access their own financial data via these third-party services.
“JPMorgan and the banksters are trying to kill fintech and crypto companies. They want to take away your right to access your banking data for FREE via third-party apps like Plaid and instead charge you and fintechs exorbitant fees to access YOUR DATA. This will bankrupt fintechs that help you link your bank accounts to crypto companies like Gemini, Coinbase, and KrakenFX, so you can easily fund your account with fiat to buy bitcoin and crypto.”
Winklevoss suggested this is part of a broader effort by large financial institutions to choke off crypto access — what he calls “Operation ChokePoint 2.0.” That term refers to an alleged coordinated effort by banks or regulators to de-bank certain sectors by cutting off critical services.
Six days later, he followed up with a more direct accusation:
“This week, JPMorgan told us that because of it, they were pausing their re-onboarding of Gemini as a customer after they off-boarded us during Operation ChokePoint 2.0. Sorry, Jamie Dimon, we’re not going to stay silent.”
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The backdrop to this fight is a new U.S. regulation known as the Open Banking Rule, announced by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in 2023. This rule is designed to give consumers the right to share their financial data with trusted apps — including crypto wallets — using services like Plaid.
