Behind Regulatory Deregulation: The Deep博弈 Between Trump Officials Pushing Crypto Integration into the Banking System

By Dylan Tokar, The Wall Street Journal

Translated by Saoirse, Foresight News

Jonathan Gould, the top U.S. banking regulator and current Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), is aggressively pushing cryptocurrency firms into the formal banking system—having already granted preliminary approval for Ripple and Crypto.com to establish national trust banks, and remaining open to charter applications from other entities such as payments technology companies. This move has drawn criticism from traditional banks, which view these new entrants as potential competitors and argue they are not subject to equivalent regulatory rigor.

A seasoned banking attorney, Gould served as OCC’s General Counsel during President Trump’s first term and briefly worked at a blockchain technology company during the Biden administration. He contends that the banking industry must embrace innovation to remain competitive; otherwise, excluding emerging sectors like crypto risks leaving them permanently outside the regulatory perimeter, forming an unregulated shadow banking system. “I’m open to rethinking what a bank is,” the OCC chief told The Wall Street Journal in an interview.

Wall Street largely welcomed President Trump’s return to the White House and supported his administration’s “deregulatory era”—a policy agenda covering capital requirements for financial institutions, merger thresholds, and more. Yet this administration’s actions have also opened the door to a new wave of financial challengers, with traditional finance increasingly viewing them as serious threats.

Change Without Fear

Trust banks typically do not accept deposits or make loans; instead, their core business revolves around custody of various assets. Traditional operators include insurance companies and payroll processors. Cryptocurrency firms say obtaining a trust bank charter would bolster client confidence in services such as digital asset custody—particularly among major Wall Street institutional clients.

In December 2025, the OCC granted preliminary approval to Ripple, Circle, and three other firms to establish national trust banks; in February 2026, it issued similar preliminary approvals to Crypto.com. These new banks must pass final reviews before commencing operations.

Industry advocacy groups such as the Bank Policy Institute have expressed concern, noting insufficient public understanding of how firms like Ripple intend to use their charters. Some applicants have revealed ambitions to gain access to the Federal Reserve’s payment systems—enabling efficient fund transfers between digital currencies and the traditional banking system. This has alarmed traditional banks, which fear these new entrants may expand beyond trust activities and begin offering products and services akin to those of full-service banks.

Earlier this month, Kraken, a cryptocurrency exchange, secured Federal Reserve payment system access for its state-chartered bank—the first crypto firm to do so—sparking strong protests from banking trade groups. When asked by The Wall Street Journal about “the types of activities full-service banks can offer but trust banks cannot,” Jonathan Gould declined to provide a definitive answer. Last month, the OCC approved regulatory amendments further entrenching its open-ended supervisory approach toward trust banks—a move that could trigger legal challenges from banking industry groups or state regulators.

Gould emphasized that he aims to attract diverse new entrants—not just crypto firms—into the market. “From the perspective of the banking system, new entrants aren’t something to fear,” he said.

“An Astonishing Fact”

In a recent speech, Gould noted that prior to the 2008 financial crisis, the OCC received over 100 bank charter applications annually on average; since then, the annual average has dropped to just four. He highlighted the particular hardship facing small banks—half of those with assets under $1 billion have failed since 2010. “That’s an astonishing fact,” he said at this month’s American Bankers Association conference.

Although Gould is only one of four federal banking regulators, his outspoken stance on crypto—and his vigorous defense of the White House’s agenda—has recently overshadowed his larger, better-known counterparts at other agencies.

Conflict-of-Interest Concerns

In January 2026, World Liberty Financial—the Trump family’s flagship cryptocurrency venture—announced it had applied for a national trust bank charter. Later that month, The Wall Street Journal reported that a member of Abu Dhabi’s royal family had secretly signed an agreement to acquire a $500 million stake in the company—while U.S. officials were simultaneously advancing efforts to loosen export controls on AI chips.

At a Senate hearing in late February, Democratic lawmakers questioned Gould about World Liberty Financial’s charter application and broader conflict-of-interest concerns arising from the Trump family’s involvement in crypto. Gould expressed discomfort with suggestions that Trump may have engaged in improper or illegal conduct, stressing that the company’s application would be treated no differently than any other and processed through standard procedures. He also noted his focus on accelerating the overall pace of bank charter approvals. “It’s like a muscle that may have atrophied over the years,” Gould said in the interview, “and we need to address some operational issues.”

Many readers echoed similar skepticism in the article’s comment section. Some argued that cryptocurrencies have delivered no genuine financial innovation—only high energy consumption, low efficiency, and susceptibility to money laundering and other illicit uses. Others questioned whether crypto-related assets qualify for deposit insurance and voiced fears that they amount to disguised Ponzi schemes. Still others bluntly asserted that the ultimate beneficiaries of this wave of regulatory loosening would be the Trump family and associated interests.

Overall, amid the Trump administration’s latest round of financial deregulation, crypto capital is rapidly penetrating the core of traditional finance—leveraging regulatory easing to accelerate its integration. This financial regulatory reform, spearheaded by Trump-aligned officials, is triggering a multifaceted contest involving innovation, risk, vested interests, and shifting industry dynamics.