Trump's Immigration Order May Boost Stablecoins and Bitcoin ATMs

When President Donald Trump's family faced growing pressure from banks, it embraced crypto. Now, immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally face a similar choice under what policy experts describe as a move that could force people out of the traditional banking system. On May 19, the president issued an executive order "to restore integrity to America's financial system." In the name of national security, the directive tasked federal regulators such as the Treasury Department with considering rules that would tighten oversight on fraud screening and risk mitigation associated with extending services to immigrants who are undocumented. Under President Joe Biden's administration, "debanking" emerged as a rallying cry for the crypto industry, fueled by an alleged plot referred to as "Operation Chokepoint 2.0." The suspected scheme centered on perceived risks tied to doing business with the sector, eventually prompting congressional investigations and the release of internal regulatory documents. Trump's executive order exposes tension between measures meant to safeguard American banks from unverified risks and the crypto industry's high-profile battle against debanking, while creating parallels between supposed Biden-era tactics and the genesis of a crypto empire. The administration maintains that tightening protocols is long overdue. "Gaps in customer identification practices have allowed terrorists, drug traffickers, money launderers, and other criminal networks to exploit U.S. financial institutions to move illicit funds and evade law enforcement," the White House stated in an accompanying fact sheet. Since World Liberty Financial was established in 2024, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. have cited challenges posed by banks as a driving force behind the family crypto venture. Last year, Trump Jr. said at a conference, "We got into crypto because—out of necessity—we were debanked." Under Operation Chokepoint 2.0, regulators allegedly pressured banks behind closed doors to sever ties with crypto firms, labeling the industry as a "reputational risk." The term was popularized by Nic Carter, founding partner of investment firm Castle Island Ventures, who told Decrypt that even though the circumstances are different, he opposes the new policy. "It's pretty cruel to deprive someone of access to financial infrastructure entirely, or force them to utilize cash, shadow banks, or fringe infrastructure, which might not be safe or credible," he said. "And that extends to folks that are here in the country illegally." The crypto industry has positioned itself as a middleman-free alternative for anyone with a smartphone to store and transfer wealth, but some policy experts caution that any adoption amid the current political climate would be driven by duress—not preference. Nicholas Anthony, a research fellow at the Cato Institute, a prominent libertarian think tank, told Decrypt that Trump's executive order is effectively "deputizing banks as immigration enforcement officers," while encouraging a Big Brother-like atmosphere. Anthony added that some undocumented immigrants will turn to crypto as an alternative lifeline, while others are likely to use organized crime groups such as cartels as a way to remit money home, because those enterprises offer a deeply rooted system that's commonly known. The U.S. government has seized vast sums of cryptocurrency from entities linked to Iran's military since the war broke out in February, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Speaking Friday at the 2026 Reagan National Economic Forum in Simi Valley, California, he said that some actors holding digital assets may not even know the funds are gone. "I believe that we have seized about $1 billion of their crypto," Bessent told Fox Business Network's Larry Kudlow. "Just outright grabbed the wallets... People are going to have their accounts shut down, but many more people are likely going to view the financial system with fear or hostility, and they're going to turn to crypto."