According to a report by The Information on December 27, JPMorgan Chase has frozen accounts used by at least two rapidly growing stablecoin startups operating in high-risk countries such as Venezuela in recent months. The bank's TechFlow highlights the risks that cryptocurrency transactions pose to banks, as they must understand their business dealings and the source of their funds.
JPMorgan Chase has frozen the accounts of two startups, Blindpay and Kontigo, both backed by venture capital firm Y Combinator and primarily focused on the Latin American market. These two companies had connections with JPMorgan Chase through digital payments company Checkbook.
These startups operate in Venezuela and other regions that pose legal risks to JPMorgan Chase due to sanctions or other restrictions.
JPMorgan Chase stated that the freezing of these stablecoin companies' accounts was not due to the nature of their business. "This has nothing to do with stablecoin companies," a bank spokesperson said. "We provide banking services to both stablecoin issuers and businesses related to stablecoins, and we recently facilitated the IPO of a stablecoin issuer." The bank declined to comment further.
