House Dems Raise National Security Alarms Over Trump Family’s Crypto Bank Charter Request

Forty-one House Democrats are pressuring U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent over the possible approval of a banking charter for the Trump family’s crypto company, warning that such an approval could threaten the legitimacy of the U.S. banking system and its independence from foreign actors.

In one letter Sent to Bessent on Thursday, lawmakers referred to recent reports that the Trump family’s crypto firm, World Liberty Financial, quietly sold nearly half of its shares to a UAE Royal who soon after won a lucrative AI chip deal with the White House.

World freedom is currently to search a national trust bank charter to accelerate its stablecoin-related ambitions. The charter requires approval from the OCC, an agency within the Treasury Department. It would allow World Liberty to significantly streamline the settlement of transactions involving its stablecoin, USD 1in the United States.

“This is no longer just a debate about crypto charter theory,” said the letter, coordinated by Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY). “It’s about foreign ownership, national security, regulatory integrity and whether our bank charter process can withstand political and geopolitical pressure.”

Democratic lawmakers have asked Bessent to provide them with detailed information about the safeguards the Treasury Department has put in place to ensure foreign governments “cannot use the bank charter process to influence the U.S. financial system.” The lawmakers also requested information about the important 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 the bank charter application process are independent of him and the Treasury Department. He therefore 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 whether the Treasury Department has any formal or informal involvement in that process. They asked for a response within a week.

The letter was signed not only by well-known crypto skeptics, but also by some of the industry’s strongest advocates in the House of Representatives, including Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) and Rep. Sam Liccardo (D-CA).

The correspondence came just a day after World Liberty issued a snazzy message conference at Mar-a-Lago with several members of the Trump family, rapper Nicki Minaj and the CEOs of Goldman Sachs, Coinbase, the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. Changpeng Zhao, recently the founder of Binance forgive of President Trump, was also present.