The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has conditionally approved World Liberty Financial to organize its national trust bank.
The bank will issue and manage its own stablecoins and will be led by Zach Witkoff, CEO and chairman, who founded World Liberty Financial alongside President Donald Trump’s three sons Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Barron Trump.
When the application was filed in January, President Trump was listed as World Liberty’s co-founder emeritus.
“What makes a stablecoin trustworthy is the strength of the reserve behind it, and who stands accountable for it,” Witkoff said in a prepared statement. “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.”
Lawmakers and trade groups have criticized the chartering of crypto companies like World Liberty, for “expos[ing] the broader financial system to the caustic volatility, fraud, and money laundering endemic to crypto markets.”
World Liberty has faced heavy scrutiny given its ties to the president and his family.
“If you follow the law, you will reject the president’s application,” Sen.Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, told Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould during a February hearing. “As soon as you approve that application – and we all know you’re going to approve it – you go from being a cheerleader for President Trump to an accomplice in his corruption.”
The Trump family owns 38% of World Liberty, Reuters reported, citing the company’s website. Nearly half – 49% – is owned by an investment firm in the United Arab Emirates, The Wall Street Journal reported in January.
Warren, the Senate Banking Committee’s ranking member, pressed Gould on the UAE firm’s ownership, asking if World Liberty disclosed in its charter application that the UAE company was a principal shareholder in the proposed trust bank. Gould declined to discuss the application’s details.
Patrick Woodall, managing director at Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, said Friday that “[g]ranting a bank charter to the First Family’s crypto firm poses unprecedented risks because it creates insurmountable conflicts of interest — starting with the OCC’s inability to reject the WLF charter application.”
The Trump administration’s OCC “cannot credibly or impartially supervise or examine the Trump family crypto bank, make sure it operates safely and soundly, maintain adequate reserves for the Trump stablecoin, or protect customers from unfair or deceptive practices,” Woodall said in a statement.
World Liberty Trust’s stablecoin, USD1, has reached over $4 billion in circulation, the firm said Friday. When operations begin, World Liberty Trust will issue and redeem USD1, manage the reserve backing USD1, and conduct digital asset custody services for institutional customers.
The bank will be governed by a five-member board which will include Witkoff; Scott Alper, president and chief investment officer at Witkoff Group; Robert Witkoff, former co-chief investment officer of insurance firm Chubb Co.; Jeffrey Weiner, former CEO of accounting firm Marcum LLP; and Erin Baskett, a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s board of governors.
Prior to starting operations, World Liberty Trust must satisfy the specific conditions set out in the OCC's approval letter. Among those conditions, World Liberty Trust must maintain a minimum of $20 million in tier 1 capital, at least half of which or $10 million – whichever is greater – must be held in eligible liquid assets. The bank must maintain 180 days of operating expenses.
