Crypto-skeptic US Senator Elizabeth Warren has led a letter to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency expressing concerns over potential conflicts of interest involving the Trump family’s crypto business interests.
Warren, along with Senators Chris Van Hollen and Ron Wyden, said in a letter to OCC head Jonathan Gould on Thursday that they’re concerned over “Trump and his family’s continued use of cryptocurrency business ventures to line their pockets.”
They requested information on the steps the OCC will take to ensure that President Donald Trump’s “financial conflicts of interest do not influence the OCC’s efforts to ensure the safety and soundness of our banking system.”
Trump and his family have become involved in several crypto businesses, including a crypto mining firm and a trading platform that has launched a stablecoin.
The three senators were concerned about recently approved stablecoin laws, the GENIUS Act, which appointed the OCC as the primary regulator for stablecoins.
Snippet from the letter to the OCC’s Jonathan Gould. Source: Law360
“Notably, the bill does nothing to prevent President Trump, his family, or his affiliates from financially benefiting from the issuance and sale of stablecoins and their use in transactions,” the letter read.
Trump family stablecoin under scrutiny
In March 2024, the Trump family’s decentralized finance platform World Liberty Financial announced the launch of a stablecoin called USD1.
The senators said in the letter that the Trump family’s personal wealth is “intricately tied” to the success of USD1 and their other cryptocurrency ventures, adding that President Trump “has the power to directly influence the nation’s cryptocurrency policy to his financial benefit.”
“The launch of a stablecoin directly tied to a sitting President who stands to benefit financially from the stablecoin’s success is itself an unprecedented conflict of interest presenting significant threats to our financial system.”
USD1 a “staggering model for corruption”
The letter also highlighted a $2 billion deal where Emirati firm MGX would invest in crypto exchange Binance using USD1, which the trio called “a staggering model for corruption” as the deal could net Trump’s family “potentially hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Related: Eric Trump: USD1 will be used for $2B MGX investment in Binance
The senators took issue with USD1 being used to finance what they called “a foreign government-backed entity (MGX) and a foreign corporation that pleaded guilty to criminal violations of U.S. anti-money laundering and sanctions laws (Binance).”
Binance also helped create the code powering USD1, according to reports.
Demands for answers
The letter asks Gould if he believes Trump can remove him “at his pleasure” and whether Gould would resign and provide evidence to Congress if pressured.
They also asked if the OCC would open an investigation into World Liberty’s competitors, demanding answers by Aug. 14.
The Trump family stablecoin USD1 is the seventh-largest globally, ahead of PayPal and Ripple’s stablecoins. It has a market capitalization of $2.17 billion, according to CoinGecko.
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