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Departing staffers worked for a Commerce Department office charged with protecting the U.S. from Chinese technological advances

The Trump administration pushed out two officials focused on neutralizing technological threats from China, people familiar with the matter said, in the latest dismissals of key personnel working on national-security issues tied to Beijing.

The departures, from an office within the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security, alarmed some U.S. officials and security hawks already concerned with what they described as the Trump administration’s softening stance toward China as trade talks between the two sides continue.

President Trump recently agreed to sell Nvidia artificial-intelligence chips to Chinese customers. He dismissed several members of the National Security Council last year, and officials within BIS working on China-related matters also departed.

The latest losses were within the bureau’s Office of Information and Communications Technology and Services. Set up by the first Trump administration, it has been described by many Republicans and Democrats as showing promise in limiting China’s technological and economic advances that could harm U.S. national security. The OICTS is broadly charged with securing U.S. technology supply chains and communications infrastructure, and protecting Americans’ data from adversaries.

On Wednesday, Liz Cannon, the executive director of the OICTS, submitted her resignation, the culmination of a pressure campaign by senior officials to get her to leave, people familiar with the matter said. Her announced departure follows the exit of one of her deputies, who was put on administrative leave last week, the people said.

A spokeswoman for BIS didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Cannon was appointed under the Biden administration, which implemented a range of punitive actions on China and technology issues, including tough export controls on American semiconductors and restrictions on Chinese companies doing business in the U.S. Cannon didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Both OICTS officials were integral in establishing a rule last year that widely restricts the import and sale of internet-connected passenger vehicles and related hardware and software with links to China or Russia. The rule was enacted after the office had established that the potential to share data from the cars posed a national-security risk.

A senior Commerce Department official said new leadership has been selected and will be announced within a week.

The office hadn’t announced additional new rules in the past year despite progress on investigations of other Chinese technologies. Priorities for Cannon’s team included possible restrictions on sales by Chinese router maker TP-Link and activity by telecommunications companies China Telecom and China Unicom, some of the people said. A rule restricting sales and imports of China- and Russia-linked heavy trucks and buses in the U.S., which the office had signaled would quickly follow the rule on passenger vehicles, has yet to materialize.

That inactivity is consistent with the Trump administration’s pause on an array of punitive actions toward China as the president aims to tamp down the trade conflict with Beijing. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in media interviews this week that the U.S. relationship with China has reached a “very good equilibrium.”

The senior Commerce official said OICTS is implementing the Chinese connected-vehicles rule, and will continue to address national security risks.

Revolut scraps US merger plans in favour of push for standalone licence

UK-headquartered fintech had hoped to secure a banking charter through buying an American lender

Revolut has scrapped plans to buy a US lender and will instead apply for an American banking licence, betting that the Trump administration’s light-touch approach to approvals will be a faster route to growing its operations in the country.

Europe’s most valuable financial technology company has been in discussion with US officials about applying for a licence through the Office for the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), according to people familiar with the situation.

They added that Revolut was hoping that the process should be rapid because of the deregulatory push under the Trump administration.

The move represents a reversal of strategy for Revolut, which as recently as August was hunting for a nationally chartered US bank to take over, which would have allowed the combined group to lend across 50 states.

At the time, Revolut felt that an acquisition would allow it to expand in the US more quickly than if it were to apply for a banking charter by itself.

But the neobank has made a U-turn after concluding that a takeover could be tricky, according to two people familiar with the matter. One hurdle was that if Revolut bought a community bank, it might have to commit to keeping open bricks-and-mortar branches, the people added. A takeover would also require engagement with US regulators, which would have to approve a change in ownership of the target lender.

Revolut is instead betting on an accelerated approval process after an overhaul of the OCC since Donald Trump regained the presidency a year ago.

Revolut said: “The US market is critical for Revolut’s global growth strategy and our long-term plan is to establish a bank in the US. That said, we continue to actively explore all options including a de novo bank licence application.”

A de novo banking licence refers to the authorisation given to new banks by US regulators.

No final decision has been made and plans could yet change, one person familiar with Revolut’s position said.

Meanwhile, Revolut has yet to gain a full licence in its home market. While the Bank of England approved its application for a licence after a fraught three-year process, it is with restrictions and limits Revolut’s banking division to only holding a total of £50,000 in deposits.

Revolut’s internal debate comes as British fintechs, faced with a slowing rate of customer growth in their home market, set their sights on the US as a potential avenue for growth. The US has a more traditional banking sector and armies of wealthy consumers that UK-based neobanks hope to tap into.

However, the country has a patchwork of regulations. State watchdogs grant local licences but banks can also apply for national charters through the OCC, which requires a more onerous approval process that has historically taken years.

Revolut’s peer Monzo pulled out of its US banking application in 2021 after regulators indicated that it would be unlikely to be approved. 

However, the Trump administration has rescinded a Biden-era OCC rule that more strictly policed bank mergers. Fintech executives said they had noticed a shift in the OCC’s attitude and that many companies in the sector were looking at applying for a licence themselves.

In 2025, there were 14 applications to the OCC — many from fintechs — for a de novo charter to become a limited purpose national trust bank, according to data from the law firm Freshfields. The number was almost as many as the total for the preceding four years.

The OCC has indicated it is much more open to applications from fintechs and cryptocurrency groups. In December, it approved five applications for US banking licences, including two for new entities owned by crypto asset companies Circle and Ripple.

The other three were for banks upgrading from state to national licences. BitGo Bank & Trust, Fidelity Digital Assets and Paxos Trust Company are all planning to use their expanded permissions to issue a stablecoin, a digital currency whose value is pegged against a regular currency.

UK business lender OakNorth bought the Michigan-based Community Unity Bank last March. Meanwhile Revolut’s competitor Starling Bank has also told the FT that it was weighing plans to buy a US lender.

Crypto security company Ledger plots $4bn New York listing

French group enjoys record year as more investors seek protection from hacking

Ledger has tapped bankers for an initial public offering in the US that could value the French cryptocurrency company at more than $4bn, underlining ongoing investor interest in digital asset businesses.

It is working with bankers at Goldman Sachs, Jefferies and Barclays on the deal, which could take place as soon as this year, according to people familiar with the matter. They cautioned that plans could yet change.

Ledger, Goldman, Jefferies and Barclays declined to comment.

Ledger sells devices resembling USB drives that allow crypto investors to securely store their tokens. The company was founded in Paris in 2014 and valued at $1.5bn in 2023 after raising money from investors including Singapore’s True Global Ventures and 10T Holdings.

Crypto companies have been in hot demand since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House a year ago. His administration has championed digital assets businesses and made crypto a national strategic priority, prompting dozens of companies to list in the US.

Crypto custodian BitGo is listing on the New York Stock Exchange this week, seeking a $2bn valuation and becoming the first digital assets IPO of 2026. Last year, stablecoin issuer Circle and exchanges Gemini and Bullish all listed in the US.

Pascal Gauthier, Ledger chief executive, told the FT in November that he was considering a US listing: “Money is in New York today for crypto, it’s nowhere else in the world, it’s certainly not in Europe.”

He said that Ledger was having a record year, with revenues hitting triple-digit millions as more crypto investors worried about being hacked bought its devices.

About $17bn was stolen in crypto scams and fraud last year, according to research firm Chainalysis, compared with $13bn in 2024.