World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency company linked to US President Donald Trump and his family, has been granted conditional preliminary approval by a federal banking regulator to set up a national trust bank.
The approval, granted Friday by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), clears a big regulatory hurdle for the corporation as it looks to expand its stablecoin business thru a new subsidiary dubbed World Liberty Trust corporation.
World Liberty Trust still has to meet regulatory standards and face more scrutiny before getting the green light to operate, thus approval is conditional.
If completed, the process will enable the trust bank to mint and store assets supporting the digital currency under its own federal charter and issue World Liberty Financial’s dollar-backed USD1 stablecoin.
USD1 has expanded swiftly since its introduction and is now valued at almost $4 billion on the market, making it one of the biggest stablecoins on the crypto market. The company now uses BitGo for the issue of the token and the custody of its reserves.
The new charter also would allow World Liberty to bring those functions in-house and offer digital-asset custody and payment-related services.
But permission does not make World Liberty Trust a traditional commercial bank. The national trust charter prohibits the organization from accepting regular deposits and making standard loans.
The venture has proved controversial because of the Trump family’s financial links to World Liberty Financial.
The corporation is related to the president and the OCC is led by Trump appointee Comptroller Jonathan Gould, causing critics — including Democratic lawmakers — to wonder if there are potential conflicts of interest.
The OCC has defended its vetting process, stating career staff handled the application and that the comptroller met applicable ethical and legal requirements.
World Liberty Financial was created in 2024 by members of the Trump family and the family of Steve Witkoff, a long-time associate of Trump. The expansion comes as the Trump administration is pursuing regulations to open a wider way for bitcoin businesses into the U.S. financial system.
The decision also comes amid broader efforts underway in Washington to create a comprehensive regulatory framework for electronic assets. The US Senate has recently advanced discussions on the proposed Clarity Act, which would establish regulatory duties for cryptocurrencies and other digital currencies.
The conditional charter is a crucial step for World Liberty banking to integrate its stablecoin firm with the traditional US banking system.
But the trust bank will have to satisfy the OCC’s standards before it can begin operating fully under the national charter.
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