OCC defends World Liberty charter review as stablecoin rules advance in U.S.

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OCC defends World Liberty charter

Highlights

Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould tells lawmakers the only political pressure on the World Liberty Trust Company charter review comes from Democrats, not President Donald Trump.
Regulators at the House Financial Services Committee confirm the implementation of the GENIUS Act is ongoing, with proposed rules already issued and an FDIC requirement for stablecoin issuer customer identification imminent.
Federal Reserve Vice Chair Michelle Bowman states the master account granted to crypto exchange Kraken offers limited payments access for 12 months while the Fed develops a broader policy on skinny master accounts.

Charter scrutiny and regulator response

As reported by CoinDesk, Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould tells lawmakers that the political pressure surrounding the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's review of a proposed bank charter for World Liberty Financial comes from Democrats, not from President Donald Trump. Gould says the agency is following ethics laws and will make its decision on World Liberty Trust Company's application for a national trust-bank charter under the governing statute.

The exchange comes after Representative Gregory Meeks, a New York Democrat, asks Gould during Thursday's hearing whether he is acting for the public or as a Trump fixer. Gould replies that continued questioning from Democrats, including concerns also raised by Senator Elizabeth Warren, is the only political pressure he has felt and calls that pressure unfortunate and unprecedented.

Democrats continue to argue that World Liberty's links to foreign investors and crypto partners previously associated with illicit behavior, including Binance, raise questions about whether the company is suitable for a U.S. banking charter. They also argue that it is inappropriate for a Trump appointee to decide on a benefit for a business partly owned by the president and his family.

Stablecoin rollout and payments access debate

The same House Financial Services Committee hearing also focuses on implementation of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins, GENIUS, Act. Regulators say they have already issued several proposed rules, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Travis Hill says another proposal requiring customer identification programs for stablecoin issuers is coming in the very near future.

National Credit Union Administration Chairman Kyle Hauptman presents stablecoins as a way to speed up settlement and improve the delivery of payments such as tax refunds or emergency stimulus funds. Representative Brad Sherman, a California Democrat and frequent crypto critic, pushes back, saying government payments in stablecoins would legitimize an alternative to the U.S. dollar and could support tax evasion risks.

Sherman also says the GENIUS Act bars interest payments on stablecoins and warns that lawyers may try to structure around that prohibition, requiring durable regulation. Separately, Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman says the Fed's master account granted to crypto exchange Kraken provides only very limited payments-system access for an initial 12-month period, while the central bank studies the issue ahead of formal policy on so-called skinny master accounts.

Our earlier coverage of Affirm’s bank-charter push explained how the company expanded its lending capacity to $1.7 billion through an enlarged funding agreement with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board while actively pursuing a bank charter to diversify funding sources. We also noted that management said it does not plan to operate as a traditional bank, framing the charter effort as a strategic move to strengthen funding stability amid mixed short-term market signals.

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