In brief
- A total of 41 House Democrats urged Scott Bessent to scrutinize a bank charter application from the Trump family’s crypto firm.
- The lawmakers warned such an approval could pose national security and foreign influence risks.
- They cited recent reports that World Liberty Financial sold a major stake to a UAE royal.
Forty-one House Democrats are pressing U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on the potential approval of a banking charter for the Trump family’s crypto company, warning such an approval could threaten the legitimacy of the American banking system and its independence from foreign actors.
In a letter sent to Bessent Thursday, the lawmakers referenced recent reports that the Trump family’s crypto company, World Liberty Financial, quietly sold nearly half of its equity to a UAE royal who soon after secured a lucrative AI chips deal with the White House.
World Liberty is currently seeking a national trust bank charter to accelerate its stablecoin-related ambitions. The charter requires approval from the OCC, a bureau within the Treasury Department. It would allow World Liberty to significantly streamline the settlement of transactions related to its stablecoin, USD1, in the United States.
“This is no longer just a debate about crypto chartering theory,” the letter, coordinated by Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), said. “It is about foreign ownership, national security, regulatory integrity, and whether our bank-chartering process is resilient to political and geopolitical pressure.”
The Democratic lawmakers have asked Bessent to provide them with detailed information about what safeguards the Treasury Department has in place to ensure foreign governments cannot “use the bank-chartering process to gain leverage over the U.S. financial system.” The lawmakers also requested information on how significant a role the White House plays in influencing the OCC’s decision-making on bank charter applications.
During testimony before Congress earlier this month, Bessent said the OCC, and its bank charter application process, are independent from him and the Treasury Department. He thus declined to answer detailed questions about World Liberty’s bank charter application.
In Thursday’s letter, Meeks and his Democratic colleagues also asked Bessent to again clarify if the Treasury Department has any formal or informal involvement in that process. They requested responses within a week.
The letter was signed not only by noted crypto skeptics, but also some of the industry’s strongest advocates in the House, including Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) and Rep. Sam Liccardo (D-CA).
The correspondence came just a day after World Liberty threw a swanky conference at Mar-a-Lago featuring multiple members of the Trump family, rapper Nicki Minaj, and the CEOs of Goldman Sachs, Coinbase, the New York Stock Exchange, and Nasdaq. Changpeng Zhao, the Binance founder recently pardoned by President Trump, was also present.
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