By Lawrence Delevingne and Pete Schroeder
Aug 14 (Reuters) – A national U.S. bank regulator on Friday conditionally approved a bank charter application linked to President Donald Trump and his family’s crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, effectively greenlighting an expansion of its stablecoin operations.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said in a letter published on its website that it has granted conditional preliminary approval of World Liberty Trust Company’s application for a national trust charter, which it applied for in January.
The charter, if ultimately approved at a later date, would allow World Liberty, through the newly created trust bank, to manage and hold assets on behalf of customers and settle payments faster. It does not generally permit deposit-taking or lending like traditional banks.
Hoping to capitalize on the Trump administration’s crypto-friendly stance, the industry has been knocking on the OCC’s door for such charters. They allow crypto companies to hold assets on behalf of clients nationwide under a single federal charter, as well as to provide other settlement and asset servicing functions — making it easier to court major institutional clients.
Other crypto firms, including Ripple and Circle, have received preliminary approval for such charters under Comptroller Jonathan Gould, whom Trump appointed to the role last year.
In the case of World Liberty, the charter would allow it to directly issue its USD1 stablecoin, as well as custody the U.S. dollar assets backing it, both of which are now handled by a business partner, BitGo.
In a statement on Friday, the firm welcomed the conditional approval, calling it a “milestone” in its efforts to open the bank.
“A national trust bank brings USD1 issuance, custody, and reserve management together under OCC supervision, examined on the same standards that have governed banks for generations. We welcome continuous scrutiny from Federal regulators for many years to come,” Zach Witkoff, World Liberty Trust president and chairman, said in a statement.
As in most cases, the charter is subject to conditions, including notifying the regulator of any major business plan changes, maintaining at least $20 million in capital and hiring a qualified employee to serve as the firm’s internal audit manager.
In its approval letter, the OCC noted it had received comments raising concerns about non-U.S. investors in World Liberty Financial.
The regulator said such investors were not considered principal shareholders in the bank, adding that the OCC had received so-called “passivity agreements” from several bank investors, including those outside the U.S., who vowed that they would not seek to control or influence the bank’s operations or decisions.
Among the signatories on those agreements was Eric Trump, the president’s son, as president of a Trump-family affiliated investment vehicle.
In February, two Democratic members of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee asked Trump’s Treasury secretary to examine the potential national security implications of a reported purchase of a $500 million stake in World Liberty Financial in a deal linked with the United Arab Emirates’ national security adviser.
FIRM HAS TIES TO TRUMP ALLIES
World Liberty Trust’s leadership is deeply intertwined with Trump’s longtime allies, the Witkoff family.
Zach Witkoff is the son of Trump’s special diplomatic envoy, Steve Witkoff. The Witkoffs were among the co-founders of World Liberty Financial with Trump and his three sons in late 2024, with Zach Witkoff currently serving as its CEO.
Steve Witkoff’s brother Robert Witkoff, a former insurance company executive, will be a director of World Liberty Trust. Another proposed director, Scott Alper, is the president of the Witkoff family’s real estate business.
The OCC is part of the Treasury Department and unlike many other financial regulators does not have a bipartisan board.
Democrats have said a World Liberty charter would pose a major conflict of interest, and pressured Gould during a February congressional hearing to confidentially share the company’s unredacted application. The public version did not include full details on its capital structure or business plans.
In its approval letter, the OCC said Gould and staff “acted consistently with their statutory duties and ethical obligations with respect to the application,” adding the application was reviewed by career staff and the bank would similarly be supervised by nonpolitical examiners.
LUCRATIVE BUSINESS
World Liberty is the most prominent among the Trump family’s stable of lucrative crypto ventures. Its stated vision is to democratize finance, allowing anyone to bypass a traditional banking system that the Trumps have characterized as restrictive and unfair.
World Liberty has promoted the USD1 stablecoin as a flagship product that is designed to be a safe, U.S. dollar-backed asset allowing for entry to a range of financial products on the blockchain.
USD1 has grown quickly since being announced in March 2025. It is currently the fourth largest stablecoin by market capitalization, at around $4 billion.
Reuters estimated that the Trump family earned about $50 million from the USD1 stablecoin to the end of June 2026.
Overall, World Liberty Financial funneled more than $1.6 billion to the U.S. president and his family as of April, according to Reuters calculations.
(Reporting by Lawrence Delevingne in Boston; Additional reporting by Pete Schroeder in Washington and Tom Bergin in London; Editing by Michelle Price, Tom Lasseter, Daniel Wallis and Rosalba O’Brien)
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