Jeff Stein

Jeff Stein reports on the collision of cryptocurrency, financial regulation and political power for NOTUS, focusing on how decisions in Washington shape the future of digital money and the broader economy. He treats crypto not as a niche technology story but as part of a broader struggle over who controls the financial system, from regulators at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to political leaders pushing their own digital projects. His coverage reflects a background in national economic reporting and public service investigations, bringing a sanctions-and-governance lens to the rise of stablecoins and other crypto ventures.

Trump’s family crypto bank charter

Stein’s crypto work centers on the Trump family’s stablecoin venture, World Liberty Financial, and its path to a federal banking charter.

In his reporting, he explains that the Trump-appointed head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is expected to grant the platform a national trust bank charter, giving it access to privileges typically reserved for traditional financial institutions. He details how that charter would allow World Liberty Financial to issue its USD1 stablecoin directly to retail customers and settle transactions internally, positioning the firm to capture payment flows in a way comparable to major platforms like PayPal.

The story is grounded in interviews with former OCC staffers who describe rejection of the application as “inconceivable,” underlining his focus on insider testimony and the practical consequences of regulatory decisions.

In this coverage, Stein places the Trump family’s crypto project inside the machinery of federal oversight, tracing how a single charter decision could reshape both the platform and the wider stablecoin market. He emphasizes timelines and process, noting that the current OCC leadership has already approved around a dozen crypto companies and compressed multi‑year application reviews into a 120‑day goal.

The reporting shows how he uses a single crypto case study to illuminate a broader pattern of regulatory fast‑tracking and political favoritism, rather than treating it as an isolated curiosity.

Regulators, lobbyists and crypto’s place in the system

Stein’s crypto beat is anchored in the institutions that decide which firms get to operate as banks, not in speculative discussion of tokens or trading strategies. By focusing on OCC policy, charter mechanics and internal timetables, he maps the concrete infrastructure that allows crypto firms to plug into the U.S. financial system. His work highlights the role of agency leadership, staff culture and industry pressure, drawing out how former regulators view the current approach to crypto approvals as a marked departure from past prudence. This emphasis on structures and incentives makes his coverage useful for understanding how crypto competes with, and encroaches on, legacy financial rails.

Beyond the Trump stablecoin story, Stein tracks how crypto money and technology intersect with elite actors and opinion shapers. His reporting and public posts include interviews with figures such as billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller, who acknowledges using AI tools to draft a high‑profile op‑ed on markets.

That work shows Stein’s interest in how new tools - crypto, AI and financial engineering - are adopted by powerful insiders, and how those choices ripple through politics and policy debates.

Economic policy, sanctions and government power

Stein brings a sanctions and governance perspective to his crypto coverage, rooted in years of reporting on economic policy and the unintended effects of U.S. power abroad. He has worked on a multi‑part series examining the unintended consequences of U.S. sanctions, including reporting trips to impoverished regions such as northeast Guatemala to document economic collapse tied to American policy decisions. His public accounts describe spending extensive time on these projects, underscoring a commitment to slow, ground‑level reporting on how abstract economic tools affect people and institutions.

Earlier work has also chronicled efforts inside the Trump administration to reshape the federal workforce through initiatives such as Elon Musk’s Department of Governmental Efficiency, examining how political appointees sought to seize functions historically managed by career civil servants. That focus on institutional capture and the reshaping of government capacity echoes in his crypto reporting, where the central question is who gains control over banking privileges and payment flows when digital asset firms win trust charters.

His beat therefore sits at the intersection of economic statecraft and institutional design, making crypto another arena where government tools and private ambition collide.

Technology, AI safety and political control

Alongside crypto, Stein reports on technology regulation and efforts in Congress to impose guardrails on emerging systems. At The Washington Sun, he has covered moves by two Democratic senators to force a vote on AI safety, treating the issue as a contest over how quickly lawmakers will respond to risks posed by advanced systems.

He combines that legislative focus with reporting on market actors’ use of AI, as in his interview with Druckenmiller about AI‑assisted op‑eds on bond markets, showing how regulation and elite practice are unfolding in parallel.

Stein also covers the political dynamics around international economic and security relationships, such as the tensions within MAGA‑aligned circles when Trump courts foreign leaders like Xi Jinping. This broader technology and foreign‑policy work strengthens his crypto coverage by situating digital assets within a web of geopolitical rivalry, domestic political factions and congressional oversight battles.

Across these subjects, his reporting is driven by access to policymakers, close tracking of legislative maneuvers and attention to the practical levers through which technology and finance are governed.

NOTUS, the Washington‑focused digital outlet where Stein now works, was founded in 2023 with support from a nonprofit journalism institute and is positioned as a premier politics and policy newsroom. In 2026 it begins publishing under the name The Star, reflecting an evolution in branding while retaining its core focus on power in Washington. Stein’s role within this project is to follow crypto, economic policy and emerging technologies through the corridors of government, showing how the people who run agencies and write laws decide which innovations become part of the official financial system.