Eric Trump, son of U.S. President Donald Trump, says the Trump family’s embrace of cryptocurrency was sparked by being “debanked” in the aftermath of the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Trump said several major banks abruptly closed hundreds of accounts linked to the Trump Organization without providing an explanation. The move forced the business empire to rely on smaller regional lenders before eventually securing a new, undisclosed banking partner.
🚨JUST IN: Eric Trump in WSJ interview says the banking system was weaponized against crypto, just like it’s been weaponized against us. pic.twitter.com/vinp1kpQ68
— DeFi Planet (@PlanetDefi) August 25, 2025
“At that time, I realized how fragile the financial system was and how easily it could be weaponized against you,”
Trump said. He argued the closures were politically motivated and likened them to what crypto firms face under regulatory scrutiny.
Trump noted that industry insiders had warned him the Biden administration was quietly pressuring banks to cut ties with crypto companies, a strategy critics call “Operation Chokepoint 3.0.” The effort, he said, mirrored the financial restrictions placed on his family.
“This whole system was weaponized against them, no different than it had been weaponized against us for different reasons,”
Trump added.
The Trump Organization sued Capital One earlier this year, accusing the bank of closing accounts for political reasons and inflicting financial harm. The lawsuit underscores the family’s claims of systemic discrimination within the banking sector.
Eric Trump has since positioned cryptocurrency as a hedge against what he sees as politically motivated financial control. In April, he argued that traditional banks will need to adopt digital assets or face extinction within a decade.
His comments come as venture capitalists, including Andreessen Horowitz’s Alex Rampell, warn that large banks are tightening the screws on fintech and crypto platforms by raising fees for account access and restricting fund transfers to apps like Coinbase and Robinhood.
The comments come as the cryptocurrency sector gains new political momentum. With Wall Street showing renewed interest and President Donald Trump pledging to make the U.S. a global leader in digital assets, the industry is experiencing unprecedented support in Washington.
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