- Senator Elizabeth Warren pressed the OCC to reject or delay the bank charter application for World Liberty Financial, a company linked to former President Trump.
- OCC Comptroller Jonathan Gould declined to commit to any special review, stating the application would be processed “as we process all applications.”
- Warren cited a $500 million investment in the company from a UAE-linked entity and warned that approval could make the regulator “an accomplice” in corruption.
- Forty-one House Democrats have also warned that approving the charter threatens the banking system’s independence from foreign actors.
Senator Elizabeth Warren clashed with the nation’s top bank regulator during a Senate hearing Thursday, demanding he reject a controversial crypto banking application. She targeted the pending national trust bank charter for World Liberty Financial, a company affiliated with former President Trump.
Warren cited severe national security risks from the firm’s foreign ownership. “President Trump’s crypto company is now at the center of perhaps the most disgraceful Presidential corruption scandal in U.S. history,” she argued.
The controversy stems from a Wall Street Journal report about a $500 million investment. According to the report, a UAE vehicle linked to a national security advisor purchased a 49% stake just days before Trump’s inauguration.
Consequently, Warren argued the OCC chief had a direct conflict of interest. Gould is an appointee serving the same president whose affiliated company holds the pending application.
However, Gould firmly refused to delay or deny the review. “The only political pressure I have felt from any part of the U.S. government, Senator, is from you,” he told Warren during the exchange.
“Well, it is pressure to follow the law,” Warren retorted. She insisted that following the law would require rejecting President Trump’s application.
The situation represents a stark collapse of crypto’s ‘smart money’ ideal, according to Hong Kong Web3 Association co-chair Joshua Chu. He noted to Decrypt there is nothing subtle about a foreign spy chief wiring millions into the president’s token shop.
Meanwhile, political pressure against the charter is mounting from other quarters. Forty-one House Democrats have warned Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that approval threatens the banking system’s independence.
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