Written by: Dylan Tokar, The Wall Street Journal

Translated by: Saoirse, Foresight News

Top U.S. banking regulators, including current Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould, are actively promoting the entry of cryptocurrency companies into the formal banking system, having already initiated the establishment of national trust banks for crypto firms such as Ripple and Crypto.com, and are open to licensing applications from payment technology companies and other institutions. This move has triggered dissatisfaction within the banking industry, which views these emerging players as potential competitors that have not been subject to equally rigorous regulation.

Gould, a seasoned banking lawyer who served as the OCC's general counsel during Trump's first term and briefly worked for a blockchain technology company during the Biden administration, argues that the banking industry must embrace innovation to remain competitive. He believes that excluding emerging business models like cryptocurrency will only keep them outside of regulation in the long term, creating an unregulated shadow banking system. "I have an open attitude towards the positioning of banks," he stated during an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

Wall Street generally welcomes President Trump’s return to the White House and supports the "deregulation era" initiated by his administration—this policy encompasses various domains including capital requirements for financial institutions and merger thresholds. However, the current administration's actions have also opened the door for a new wave of financial challengers, which the traditional financial sector is gradually recognizing as a significant threat.

Transformation Without Fear

Trust banks typically do not accept deposits or issue loans; their core business revolves around the custody of various assets, with insurance companies and payroll service institutions traditionally being the main operating entities for this type of bank. Cryptocurrency companies claim that obtaining a trust bank license will help enhance clients' confidence in services like digital token custody, particularly in attracting large institutional clients from Wall Street.

In December 2025, the OCC has provisionally approved Ripple, Circle, and three other companies to establish national trust banks, with a similar preliminary permit issued to Crypto.com in February 2026. These new banks must pass final reviews before they can begin operations.

Industry lobbying groups, such as the Bank Policy Institute, have expressed concerns, arguing that there is insufficient understanding of how institutions like Ripple will use their licenses. Some applicants have revealed that their ultimate goal is to connect to the Federal Reserve's payment system for efficient fund transfers between digital currencies and the traditional banking system. This has caused panic among traditional banks, which fear that these new banks will not limit their activities to trust business but will rather launch products and services similar to those offered by universal banks.

Earlier this month, a state-chartered bank operated by cryptocurrency exchange Kraken became the first crypto institution to gain access to the Federal Reserve's payment system, triggering strong protests from banking groups. When The Wall Street Journal inquired about "business types that universal banks can offer but trust banks cannot," Jonathan Gould did not provide a clear answer. Last month, the OCC approved regulatory changes that further solidified its open regulatory approach towards trust banks, which could prompt legal challenges from the banking industry or state regulators.

Gould emphasized that he hopes to attract various new banks into the market, not just those in the cryptocurrency sector. "From the perspective of the banking system, new entrants are not something to be feared," he stated.

"An Astonishing Fact"

In a recent speech, Gould mentioned that before the 2008 financial crisis, the OCC received an average of over 100 bank license applications each year; however, after the crisis, the average dropped to only 4 applications per year. He stated that small banks are in particularly difficult situations—half of the banks with assets under $1 billion have shut down since 2010. "This is an astonishing fact," he said at this month’s American Bankers Association conference.

Although Gould is only one of four federal banking regulators in the U.S., his clear stance on cryptocurrencies and his active defense of the White House agenda have recently overshadowed the actions of his larger, more well-known counterparts at the OCC.

Conflict of Interest Controversy

The flagship cryptocurrency firm of the Trump family, World Liberty Financial, announced in January 2026 that it is also applying for a national trust bank license. Later that month, The Wall Street Journal reported that a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family had secretly signed an agreement to invest $500 million in the company's shares while U.S. officials were pushing to relax export controls on artificial intelligence chips.

During a Senate hearing in late February, Democratic lawmakers questioned Gould regarding World Liberty Financial's license application and the conflict of interest issues arising from the Trump family's involvement in the cryptocurrency industry. In response to implications of "potential inappropriate or illegal conduct by Trump," Gould expressed discomfort and emphasized that the company's application would be treated equally with other applications and processed through normal channels. He also mentioned that he is working to expedite the overall approval process for bank licenses. "It's like a muscle that may have shrunk a bit over the years," Gould metaphorically stated in an interview, "We need to address some operational issues."

In the comments section of the article, many members of the public also expressed skepticism. Some readers believe that cryptocurrencies have not brought real financial innovation, but rather are high-energy, low-efficiency, and easily used for money laundering and other illegal activities; others questioned whether the related assets have deposit insurance and worried that their essence is a disguised Ponzi scheme; still, others bluntly stated that behind this series of regulatory relaxations, the ultimate beneficiaries will be the Trump family and related interest groups.

Overall, in the context of a new round of financial deregulation under the Trump administration, crypto capital is accelerating its entry into the core areas of traditional finance through regulatory loosening. This financial regulatory reform, led by officials from the Trump camp, is triggering multiple games of innovation, risk, interests, and industry dynamics.