Banks Have Every Reason to Resist the Crypto Revolution

Eric Trump, son of President Donald Trump and co-founder of American Bitcoin Corp. (ABTC) and World Liberty Financial (CRYPTO: WLFI), has a theory about why crypto legislation keeps running into roadblocks. Speaking to Fox Business from Davos on Thursday, he argued that major U.S. banks are doing everything they can to block cryptocurrency regulations because the technology threatens what he calls their decades-long monopoly over the financial system.

It's not exactly subtle, according to Trump. Legacy banks benefit enormously from the inefficiencies built into traditional finance, and they have zero incentive to support faster, technology-driven alternatives that would eliminate those profit centers.

"The big banks have been an absolute monopoly of our financial system for years," he said, before highlighting one of the more annoying quirks of modern banking. "Why can't you send a wire transfer past 5 o'clock on a Friday afternoon?" he asked.

His answer? Those delays aren't technical limitations—they're features, not bugs. "Because the big banks would love to take hundreds of billions of dollars and have it sit there and clip interest off of it over the course of a long weekend," Trump said.

In his view, modern digital alternatives make it possible to move money nearly instantly, but banks oppose these changes precisely because they undermine the current system. "They want to be able to use their money. They want to be able to arbitrage your money," he explained.

These incentives, Trump argued, are why "big banks" are doing everything they can to stop "crypto legislation" for "obvious" reasons. "The entire financial system is changing," he said.

The Crypto Legislation That Keeps Getting Delayed

Trump's comments come at an interesting moment for crypto policy. The Senate Banking Committee has pushed the crypto market structure bill further down the timeline to late February or March, after Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN) withdrew its support due to disagreements with the banking industry.

That's a significant delay for legislation that many investors and analysts view as a much-needed catalyst for the crypto market. And it fits right into Trump's narrative about institutional resistance to digital assets.

When Predictions Don't Pan Out

Back in September 2025, Trump had predicted an "unbelievable" fourth-quarter rally in cryptocurrency markets amid rising M2 money supply and quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve.

That rally, however, has failed to materialize. Bitcoin (BTC) prices have actually dropped 19.8% since he made that prediction. The upcoming market structure bill is now seen by many as the potential catalyst that could turn things around.

The iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT), which tracks the price of Bitcoin, was down 0.86% on Thursday, closing at $50.67 per share. Overnight, the fund ticked up 0.39%. The ETF currently carries a poor Momentum score in stock rankings, with an unfavorable price trend across short, medium, and long-term timeframes.

Whether Trump's theory about banking resistance holds water or not, the legislative delay is real, and crypto investors are watching closely to see when—or if—meaningful regulation finally makes it through Congress.