Crypto04 June, 20263 min read
Jonathan Gould Rejects Gregory Meeks Pressure Over World Liberty Financial Bank Trust Charter
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Gould says OCC will review World Liberty charter under existing laws, not bow to Trump. Democrats, including Meeks, press for scrutiny of Trump ties and foreign investors.
World Liberty charter fight
Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould faced pressure during a Thursday House Financial Services Committee hearing on “oversight of prudential regulators” over the Trump-linked crypto company World Liberty Financial’s connections to foreign governments and the Binance exchange. Representative Gregory Meeks, a New York Democrat, pressed Gould to hold World Liberty to the same standards as other companies in consideration of its application for a national bank trust charter, saying the firm “actively lines the pockets of the president’s family.” Gould rejected the accusation and told lawmakers, “Your attempts to continue to pressure me are the only political pressure I’ve felt from anyone other than your Senate colleagues,” while defending that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency would review the application under the law governing bank charters.
“Gould rejected the accusation and said Democratic lawmakers had applied the only political pressure he had felt.”
The hearing also unfolded as Gould’s OCC had already approved or conditionally agreed to several national trust charter applications from crypto companies, including Coinbase, Ripple, BitGo, Circle, Fidelity Digital Assets and Paxos. The World Liberty application, which prompted backlash from many Democratic lawmakers alleging conflicts of interest, was described as tied to a national trust charter application submitted in January.
Stablecoin rules under GENIUS
The same House hearing also addressed stablecoin oversight under the GENIUS Act, with Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Travis Hill telling lawmakers that regulators had already proposed several rules tied to the law.
Hill said the FDIC and other agencies would soon propose a rule requiring customer identification programs for stablecoin issuers, as the hearing focused on how banks, credit unions, and stablecoin companies will operate under the new law.
Kyle Hauptman, chairman of the National Credit Union Administration, argued that “Every day is a business day with stablecoins,” and said Americans may no longer be made fun of for speaking about how many “business days” a payment will take to settle.
Representative Brad Sherman, a California Democrat and longtime crypto critic, rejected the idea of using stablecoins for government payments, saying, “I can't think of a worse idea.”
Sherman also warned that lawyers may look for ways around the GENIUS Act’s prohibition on paying interest on stablecoins, urging regulators to write rules strong enough to prevent evasion.
Kraken access and next steps
Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman faced questions about the Fed master account granted to crypto exchange Kraken, and she said Kraken received only limited access to the payments system for an initial 12-month period. Bowman told lawmakers the Fed would monitor the arrangement closely while it prepares formal rules for similar access requests, as the hearing framed “skinny master accounts” as a way approved companies could gain limited access to central bank payment services. In parallel, the OCC’s trust-charter push was described as moving through a series of conditional approvals, with the OCC under Jonathan Gould granting conditional charters to 11 crypto and fintech companies including Ripple, Crypto.com, Circle, BitGo, Paxos, and Fidelity Digital Assets.
“Bowman said Kraken received only limited access to the payments system for an initial 12-month period.”
The Phemex account also said that on March 4, Kraken Financial became the first digital-asset bank in U.S. history to obtain a master account with the Federal Reserve, giving it direct access to Fedwire payment systems. Looking ahead, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration was aiming for passage of a comprehensive digital asset market structure bill, called the CLARITY Act, sometime this summer, with some senators expecting a vote before August.