Omni Co-Founder Shares Startup Journey: How Banking Systems Are Killing Cryptocurrency Innovation?
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Omni Co-Founder Shares Startup Journey: How Banking Systems Are Killing Cryptocurrency Innovation?
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Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Austin King, Co-founder of Omni Network
Translation: Luffy, Foresight News
Recently, Marc Andreessen, co-founder of a16z, revealed that many founders have been threatened by the banking system. I am one of them: due to fear of retaliation, I've never spoken publicly about it until now.
The Beginning of the Story
What does it actually feel like when this happens to you? My first personal experience was in 2021, when I tried to open my company’s first bank account.
At the time, multiple banks rejected me outright. Whenever you try to open a business account, banks ask what your company does. If you mention anything related to "cryptocurrency" or "Web3," you get denied. After being rejected several times for using these terms, you start to realize what's happening—so I began describing our company as an "early-stage fintech startup." Eventually, this worked. I successfully opened a bank account and could finally operate a business in this country.
Repeated Attacks
Is that all there is to it? No—this is an ongoing, repeated process of harassment. Once you do manage to open an account, you quickly realize that relying on just one account poses serious risks for any business. Sooner or later, you receive an email with a subject line like this:
You open it, and the request seems reasonable enough—but they already have the documents they’re asking for. Still, you comply and submit everything again. The problem is, compliance doesn’t help. Even after promptly sending every requested document, our account was arbitrarily frozen.
This freeze prevented us from paying salaries. My team trusted me deeply, but when a company can't pay its employees, you inevitably start questioning whether this is a stable place to work long-term. And when your CEO says, “Honestly, we have the money. We submitted all required documents almost immediately. I truly believe we're being targeted because we work in crypto,” you begin to lose confidence.
Here’s another example:
It sounds reasonable at first glance—they just want a few documents and give you five business days. But here's the catch: sometimes they don’t even respond within those five days. It’s not about submitting the files—it’s about whether they approve them. They simply re-request the exact same documents over and over, without explaining what’s wrong with the ones already submitted.
This tactic mirrors how the SEC has suffocated cryptocurrency innovation in the U.S. over the past four years: refusing to define clear rules, forcing people to operate in ambiguity, and killing innovation through bureaucratic vagueness rather than direct confrontation.
We’re not alone. I’ve spoken with many of Omni’s investors, who report seeing this happen across numerous portfolio companies. It’s so common that their investment support teams now proactively help startups establish multiple independent bank accounts to mitigate risk.
Why Can I Speak About This Now?
Because if someone like Marc Andreessen speaks up, I feel less likely to be singled out. Previously, I stayed silent out of concern that speaking up would bring further risks to me and my business. I’m writing this primarily to add more evidence that this is a real issue—one that’s actively stifling American innovation.
Over the past four years, government actions have effectively pushed cryptocurrency innovation overseas. I believe this is extremely dangerous for the United States. We should be leading in the field of crypto, not pushing innovation toward random jurisdictions like the Bahamas. Cryptocurrency is a technology with the potential to dramatically increase individual sovereignty and personal freedom for people around the world. I can’t think of a single other technology that embodies the “American Dream” more fully than cryptocurrency does.
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