The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has conditionally approved a national trust bank charter for World Liberty Trust Company, sponsored by Trump family-backed World Liberty Financial. The charter would let World Liberty bring stablecoin issuance and custody in-house instead of relying on third party BitGo, though final approval still requires additional steps.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency conditionally approved World Liberty Trust Company's application for a national trust bank charter on Friday, moving the Trump family-linked crypto firm closer to running its own stablecoin operations. The trust company is sponsored by World Liberty Financial, which says on its website it is 38% owned by an entity affiliated with Donald J. Trump and certain of his family members.
Yet the approval is only preliminary: the OCC said in its letter that final approval won't come until the company meets additional preopening requirements, including raising capital. The charter would let World Liberty issue and redeem its own stablecoin rather than depending on a third party.
USD1 moves toward in-house control
World Liberty currently relies on BitGo for some stablecoin services, and bringing that work in-house could be lucrative. The trust company plans to take over issuance and redemption of USD1 from BitGo Bank & Trust. World Liberty has also said it plans to serve institutional customers such as market makers, exchanges and investment firms. USD1 has a market capitalization of $4 billion and ranks as the fourth-largest stablecoin, behind Tether and USDC.
World Liberty Financial CEO Zach Witkoff, son of Trump's Middle East negotiator Steve Witkoff, welcomed the scrutiny that comes with the charter. According to CNBC: "We welcome continuous scrutiny from Federal regulators for many years to come", Witkoff said in a statement.
Democrats press conflict-of-interest concerns
Sen. Elizabeth Warren had urged the OCC not to approve World Liberty's application unless the president divested his interests in the company. Some congressional Democrats have also withheld support for the Clarity Act, a crypto regulation bill, because it doesn't limit the president's ability to profit from crypto ventures.
Still, the OCC under Trump has emphasized its support for new bank charter applications. The agency has received 40 applications since 2025, a sharp increase compared with President Joe Biden's term, many of them tied to crypto projects. Other firms including Coinbase, Paxos, BitGo, Ripple and Circle have received similar conditional approvals over the past year as the regulator takes a friendly stance toward the industry.
Sources: CNBC, The Block, CoinDesk
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