In a new letter, a trio of Senate Democrats has pressed the new head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) about the US President’s crypto ventures and a potential conflict of interest related to the Trump family’s stablecoin, USD1.
We request information on the steps you will take as Comptroller to ensure that President Trump’s financial conflicts of interest do not influence the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) efforts to ensure the safety and soundness of our banking system – including its efforts to oversee the payment stablecoin market pursuant to the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act.
Therefore, “the OCC may soon be in the position where it has to review a stablecoin issuer application submitted by a company directly tied to President Trump and his family and to draft regulations that clearly influence the President’s finances.”
To the Senators, the GENIUS Act “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,” which has been an increasing concern for Senate Democrats this year.
Discussing the potential conflicts of interest, the letter noted that President Trump’s crypto venture, World Liberty Financial (WLFI), launched the USD1 stablecoin in March 2025, just as Congress began to evaluate related legislation.
The senators explained that “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,” arguing that Trump’s conflicts of interest are “not theoretical.”
In other words, President Trump and his family’s personal wealth is intricately tied to the success of USD1 and WLF’s other cryptocurrency ventures; President Trump, meanwhile, has the power to directly influence the nation’s cryptocurrency policy to his financial benefit.
They also asked whether the OCC chief would resign and provide evidence to Congress if he was pressured to benefit WLFI or harm its competitors.
