As U.S. regulators advance the licensing of crypto trusts, Senate scrutiny intensifies

The trust company with the identifier Coinbase has received final approval to operate, while at the same time, members of parliament are seeking to obtain records regarding the compliance status of crypto companies and potential conflicts of interest.

U.S. federal regulators are paving more pathways for crypto companies to operate under U.S. rules, while congressional investigators are requesting to see the records behind these decisions. Lawmakers want to understand how regulators justify new trust licenses, how crypto companies handle compliance issues, and what interactions they have with individuals associated with President Donald Trump's administration.

On November 9th, Coinbase announced that its nationwide trust company has received final approval and can now begin operations. The Federal Reserve Bank of the United States (OCC) had previously granted preliminary conditional approval in April. The company stated that this license provides a unified federal framework for its custody business.

Members of parliament have been questioning how federal regulatory agencies use their existing powers to expand the business scope of crypto companies. In a letter dated May 18th addressed to OCC, Senator Elizabeth Warren raised doubts about at least nine approvals for crypto trust licenses, including the conditional approval previously granted to Coinbase. She requested relevant application documents, legal analyses underlying the approval decisions, as well as any communication records between OCC officials and the White House or the Trump family.

Four days before Coinbase posted the aforementioned message, Senator Richard Blumenthal once again requested that Binance, Tether, and two companies associated with Trump submit records. He demanded that these entities voluntarily hand over the required documents by January 4, 2027, and warned that his subcommittee might take other measures to obtain this information.