Comptroller says only Democrats pressuring over crypto trust charter
Jonathan Gould, the Trump-nominated Comptroller of the Currency, denied that Donald Trump had directed him to favor a national trust charter application tied to the Trump family’s crypto company, World Liberty Financial. In a House Financial Services Committee hearing, Rep. Gregory Meeks accused Gould of acting as “Trump’s fixer” and urged the OCC to hold World Liberty to the same standards as other applicants because of its links to the president’s family and foreign interests. Gould said the pressure he felt was political and from lawmakers, not the White House, and insisted the OCC would be “apolitical and nonpartisan.” The dispute comes as the OCC has already approved or conditionally approved trust charter applications from several crypto firms, including Coinbase, Ripple, BitGo, Circle, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos. A trust charter would let a crypto firm offer certain services with lighter regulation than traditional banks. World Liberty’s application has drawn criticism from Democrats over conflicts of interest, and Kraken’s parent company also recently applied.
