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The Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank is being investigated by Senator Maxine Waters for granting Kraken access to a limited-purpose master account.
On the other hand, an investigation into Balmain’s ties to President Trump’s family has been launched just days after Eric Trump publicly claimed the family’s crypto ventures have generated over $1 billion in revenue.
Rep Waters pushes investigation into Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank
Representative Maxine Waters, the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, has launched an investigation into the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City over its decision to grant the crypto exchange firm, Kraken, a limited-purpose master account.
In a letter sent to Kansas City Fed President Jeff Schmid, Waters pointed out that neither federal statute nor the Federal Reserve Board’s Account Access Guidelines mentions a “limited purpose account” as a valid account type.
She requested that Schmid clarify the account’s terms and provide information about the approval process.
Waters’ questions include whether Kraken’s account gives it access to FedACH, Fedwire, or FedCash services, and whether the exchange faces any balance limits, overdraft restrictions, or enhanced supervisory requirements beyond Wyoming’s Special Purpose Depository Institution rules.
The Kansas City Fed granted the account to Payward Financial, which does business as Kraken Financial, for an initial one-year term. The regional bank said at the time it was trying to maintain a system that “supports a level competitive field and reinforces the stability and resilience” of Fed payment systems.
The Bank Policy Institute said it was “deeply concerned” that the approval came before the Federal Reserve concluded on a policy framework for such accounts. The group criticized the lack of transparency around both the approval process and risk measures.
Waters gave the Kansas City Fed until April 10 to respond. She described the matter as one of “critical importance to the development and oversight of our financial system.”
Bitmain and Trump family ties under scrutiny
Senator Elizabeth Warren has written to the Commerce Department specifically requesting for records of communications between Bitmain and Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., as well as communications between the company and Commerce Department officials.
She also requested information about the specific actions the agency has taken to keep the Commerce Department’s national security decisions uninfluenced by firms that have business ties to the Trump family.
In late 2025, the Department of Homeland Security reportedly launched an investigation codenamed “Operation Red Sun” to examine whether Bitmain’s ASIC miners could be remotely accessed for espionage or to disrupt the U.S. power grid.
Previous shipments of Bitmain equipment have been halted, and the use of its mining machines near U.S. military bases has been flagged as a significant national security concern.
Bitmain has so far denied the allegations. American Bitcoin Corp, a Trump-backed company, previously purchased 16,000 Bitmain mining machines for $314 million.
The senator is in the minority in the Senate, so she cannot force a response from the Commerce Department, but her request for documents puts public pressure on the agency.
Trump family’s billion-dollar crypto earnings
Days before either investigation was launched, Eric Trump publicly claimed that his family’s crypto projects, including a memecoin, NFT collections, and the World Liberty Financial platform, have brought in over $1 billion in revenue
The TRUMP memecoin, launched in early 2025, contributed approximately $350 million in revenue from token sales and trading activity.
The family also entered the NFT market between 2022 and 2024, releasing four collections of Trump-themed digital collectibles.
World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a crypto platform associated with the family that includes a governance token and a dollar-backed stablecoin called USD1, has reportedly raised substantial funds through token sales and partnerships.
“Crypto’s been incredible and it came out of us being debanked,” Eric Trump said. “It is the future of finance and as a family we’re all in.”
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