🔥 Trump's New Stablecoin | White House Says Digital is King | Just Days until The Federal Government | Changes | Fintech News Highlights

In this episode: Yahoo News, The White House, This Week in Fintech, Payments Dive, Banking Dive, NPR Planet Money, The Paypers, Banking Exchange, Stanchion

For Watchers

For Readers:

📢 Top Headlines

• Before we jump into today’s news buffet, here are a few choice appetizers:

  • A Trump-backed stablecoin? That’s not a punchline, it’s policy.

  • UK shoppers are ghosting their online carts—and it’s not them, it’s the checkout.

  • And the CFPB would like just a little more time before their next courtroom showdown.

  Now, yesterday’s episode was fraught with technical challenges. Let’s just say that I was feeling all kinds of Mercury retrograding. Anyway, in case you missed it, here is a

  Quick recap from yesterday:

  • The U.S. Treasury dialed back anti-money laundering rules, exempting domestic firms from ownership reporting—essentially gutting one of the most effective anti-corruption laws in recent memory.

  • Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is on a mission to centralize power, proposing that the Fed hand over its regulatory authority to the Treasury. Oversight, but make it political.

  • State regulators raised their voices about stablecoins, asking—nay, begging—for federal action in an environment where regulation is about as fashionable as fax machines.

  • And while some compliance efforts are fading, FinCEN is doubling down near the Mexico border—now requiring Social Security numbers for cash transactions over $200. Surveillance, but only if you're close to a taco stand.

🔥 Deep Dive: The headline grabber today? A Trump-branded stablecoin.

Yahoo News, Fortune, Politico, The Wall Street Journal and others are reporting that the Trump family, via World Liberty Financial, is launching USD1—a stablecoin pegged to U.S. Treasuries and dollar deposits. It comes just as President Trump is doubling down on transforming the national currency within the next few months.

Oh, I apologize, does that sound hyperbolic? Well, let's stick to the facts. With USD1, the Trumps are offering a 1-to-1 digital dollar with a MAGA twist—what could go wrong?

And while you might assume this is just branding, it aligns perfectly with The White House announcement of an executive order to shift all federal disbursements and receipts to digital payments.

Oh.

Did you miss that in your inbox last night? Yes, The White House issued a new Executive Order.

No, not the one all over the news about reducing the voter rolls by 9%.

This Executive Order is entitled: "modernizing Payments To and From America's Bank Account."

So, what are we doing now?

First, no agencies can pay anything by paper check anymore. And you remember, about three or four weeks ago, they set credit card spending limits on government cards to a one dollar limit. Next, the Treasury department will be mounting a Public Awareness Campaign to educate people on how to use digital payments.

And when is all of this going to slowly roll into place? About 90 days.

All agencies still operational within the Federal Government must submit compliance plans to meet these requirements within 90 days. But it doesn't actually go into effect until September 30th 2025.

But not to worry, the oh-so-much-more efficient Federal Government is going to allow exceptions. For example, if you don't have access to a digital bank account -- well, you're exempt. How we are going to find you and sign you up for this exception is ... um ... missing from the Executive Order.

No CBDC here—Trump made that clear. It’s about efficiency, fraud prevention, and, well, convenience. Especially convenient if your family is also launching a coin.

So what could happen?

Well, the fact that the Trumps named this coin USD1 instead of another eponymous tribute to themselves should signal that they expect this to be used widely. It also tells me that they want to be listed above the most stable of stablecoins, USDC. So. Are we one Executive Order away from all other stablecoins being illegal to use? Never say never.

You'll remember we reported on the tensions between Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent and the Federal Reserve yesterday. Bessent wanted more control over the currency. Well, don't worry, because there's no mention of the Fed in this Executive Order. The Department of the Treasury is running this show.

But wait, there’s more.

Let’s talk numbers. According to Fortune, this isn’t just a moonshot meme token with a red hat on it. USD1 is reportedly backed by U.S. Treasuries, cash, and cash equivalents, with BitGo—a seasoned crypto custodian—managing reserves. No complex yield farming, no interest payments, and definitely no anonymous founders with anime avatars. Just a Trump-backed family business offering you a digitized George Washington, wrapped in Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain.

And, in case you were wondering how serious this is: $550 million has already flooded into the Trump crypto ecosystem, thanks in part to early investors like—checks notes—Justin Sun, who's casually fending off SEC lawsuits while dropping $75 million into WLFI, the project’s governance token. Ethics experts? Let’s just say they started hyperventilating into brown paper bags two weeks ago when a deal was clear between Trump and CZ. Now they're just passed out.

Meanwhile, over at CNBC, they’re trying to keep it together by calling this “the latest entrant into the stablecoin wars.” Because of course, nothing says “sound monetary policy” like a Trump-branded DeFi war chest casually entering a market currently ruled by Tether and Circle.

And speaking of DeFi: World Liberty Financial is pitching itself as a full-service “crypto bank,” aiming to supercharge decentralized lending, trading, and whatever else people are willing to YOLO their digital dollars into. According to Politico, the Trump sons—

yes, Donald Jr. and Eric—are officially at the helm as “Web3 Ambassadors,” flanked by longtime loyalists and a couple DeFi developers with a history that includes a $2 million hack (don’t worry, that’s just crypto hazing at this point).

But here’s the plot twist: while most people are still figuring out how to unfreeze their Venmo accounts, this whole thing lines up beautifully with the administration's new policy framework.

As you read earlier, the Executive Order on modernizing payments makes it crystal clear—no paper checks, no stamps, no excuses. Everything goes digital.

And who just so happens to be launching a private-sector stablecoin right as the U.S. government phases out analog payments? Oh right, the same family that currently occupies the White House. Total coincidence.

But don’t worry—there’s definitely no Central Bank Digital Currency in the works. The operative word there being, "central bank," of course. Trump has said no himself. Multiple times. This isn’t Big Brother issuing programmable dollars. No, this is more of a family-friendly, MAGA-certified dollar alternative, with strong vibes and no pesky oversight from the Fed. (Which, by the way, is entirely absent from the Executive Order. Almost like someone forgot to loop them in.)

Instead, the Department of the Treasury is steering this ship, with Secretary Scott Bessent now overseeing digital transformation and monetary infrastructure—possibly the only guy in D.C. who could push through a crypto agenda while side-eyeing the Fed into irrelevance.

So, is USD1 the future of money?

Let’s recap:

it's Backed by Treasuries ✅

it's Named to outrank USDC ✅

Issued by a private firm run by the President’s family ✅

Dropped in sync with a government-mandated digital payments shift ✅

Immune to Fed oversight? ✅

Already raking in half a billion in token sales? ✅✅

What could go wrong?

Well. We’re just 90 days and one Treasury Department awareness campaign away from finding out.

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📊 It’s time for the Regulatory Round-Up

Payments Dive reports the CFPB has asked for more time to respond to a lawsuit questioning its authority over nonbank financial players. It’s the classic regulatory response: “We’re not ignoring you, we’re just reorganizing our thoughts.”

Banking Dive shared that Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman wants a review of how negative comments affect bank application reviews. Right now, even one disgruntled voice can derail an entire application process. Bowman’s saying, let’s bring some balance and speed back into the equation.

Also from Banking Dive: the Federal Reserve slapped a cease-and-desist order on Frankewing Bancshares. The Tennessee-based bank is facing a to-do list of operational fixes to meet compliance standards. It’s not a shutdown, but it is a wake-up call.

Finally, NPR’s Planet Money gives us the 101 on how hard it is to start a bank in 2025. The post-2008 regulatory landscape means that launching a financial institution is a marathon through molasses—slow, sticky, and full of due diligence. The question is, how will the new, Michelle Bowman-gentle criticizing-declining regulatory environment change things?

🎙️ And that’s your fintech fast-track for today on Your Inbox Last Night. From stablecoins to low-code payments to regulators waving yellow flags, we’re keeping pace with the industry—so you don’t have to scroll endlessly.

Remember, don’t just subscribe—join the community. We’re here daily, untangling fintech, payments, and everything in between.

Thanks for tuning in, and remember: we’re taking the fine print and turning it into bold headlines.

Catch you tomorrow.

Links to the news sources from today's episode:

Here are your links formatted as requested in the Source | Title | Live Link style:

• Yahoo News | Latest and Breaking News, Headlines, Live Updates, and More | Live Link

• Yahoo News | Trump's Kids Launching Stablecoin After Trump Backs Regulations for Them | Live Link

• The White House | Modernizing Payments To and From America's Bank Account | Live Link

• This Week in Fintech | Marqeta: The Future of Self-Service Fintech Innovation? | Live Link

• Payments Dive | Fiserv CEO faces fire for Social Security cuts | Live Link

• Payments Dive | CFPB seeks extension to respond to nonbank oversight lawsuit | Live Link

• Banking Dive | Fed hands Tennessee bank a cease-and-desist order | Live Link

• Banking Dive | Fed’s Bowman: Let’s rethink negative comment review for bank applications | Live Link

• NPR Planet Money | New Bank Startup Regulations Entrepreneur | Live Link

• Payments Dive | Payments Are Still Handled as a Secondary Task In Most Businesses – Survey | Live Link

• The Paypers | UK shoppers often abandon baskets due to poor online checkout | Live Link

• Banking Exchange | Are You Ready for the PCI DSS March 2025 Deadline? | Live Link

• Stanchion | Navigating the Compounding Complexity of Digital Card Issuing | Live Link

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