Today in crypto, Democrats in the US House of Representatives sent a letter pressing Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent over World Liberty Financial’s push for a national trust bank charter, citing systemic risk. The White House has looked for a middle ground in the latest talks between the banks and crypto over a key bill, and public Bitcoin miners are planning about 30 gigawatts of new power capacity aimed at artificial intelligence workloads.
House Democrats press Treasury on WLFI bank charter and UAE stake
House Democrats are pressing Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent over how regulators are handling World Liberty Financial’s bid for a national trust bank charter to issue a dollar-backed token.
In a letter on Thursday, 41 House Financial Services Committee Democrats led by Representative Gregory Meeks cited systemic risk, foreign ownership and potential political pressure on the bank chartering process.
They asked Bessent to explain what safeguards exist to prevent foreign government officials or politically connected investors from using the charter process to gain leverage over the US financial system.
The lawmakers pointed to reporting that a senior royal from the United Arab Emirates quietly acquired almost half of World Liberty Financial for about $500 million, including a reported $187 million flowing to Trump-affiliated entities, while the company pursued a national trust bank charter with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).
They argued that the combination of digital asset trust structures, untested liquidity and resolution frameworks and foreign political interests raised questions that regulators “cannot afford to sidestep.”
White House floats stablecoin reward limits in latest crypto, bank talks
The White House reportedly refocused talks between crypto and bank lobbyists on limiting how stablecoin rewards should be paid in the third meeting between the two groups on Thursday over a crypto market structure bill.
Semafor’s Eleanor Mueller and journalist Eleanor Terrett reported that White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt drove the discussion at the latest meeting and pushed for a previously pitched proposal that would allow third parties to offer stablecoin rewards to customers tied to transactions and activity, and not balances, the latter of which has been a sticking point for banks.
No agreement was reached, but Ripple chief legal officer, Stuart Alderoty, said the groups “rolled up our sleeves and went through specific language,” while Coinbase legal head Paul Grewal called the meeting “constructive and the tone cooperative.”
It's the third meeting between the three parties, who first met on Feb. 2 and again eight days later on Feb. 10, as the Senate is looking to pass a bill to define how US market regulators will police crypto, which is stalled as crypto and banking interests have collided over language restricting stablecoin rewards.
Bitcoin miners chase 30 GW AI capacity to offset hashprice pressure
Public Bitcoin miners are planning about 30 gigawatts of new power capacity aimed at artificial intelligence workloads, nearly three times the 11 GW they currently have online, as they race to offset shrinking mining margins and reposition for the next growth cycle.
The buildout, compiled by TheEnergyMag across 14 publicly traded Bitcoin (BTC) miners, underscores how aggressively the industry is pivoting away from traditional hashpower amid persistently weak hashprice conditions.
On paper, the planned expansion amounts to what TheEnergyMag described as “a small country’s worth of power infrastructure.” In reality, much of the 30 GW sits in development pipelines, interconnection queues or early-stage plans, rather than operational facilities.
“This is the megawatt arms race of the AI boom,” TheEnergyMag said, adding that monetization ultimately depends on whether AI demand remains strong enough to justify the scale of investment.
