On August 14, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued a conditional preliminary approval for a national trust bank charter to World Liberty Trust Company. Established by World Liberty Financial, the firm plans to operate in Bay Harbor Islands, Florida, with activities including issuing, redeeming, and managing the USD1 dollar stablecoin in a non-fiduciary capacity, as well as providing digital asset custody and exchange services in a trust role. USD1 is currently issued and custodied by BitGo, with a market capitalization of roughly $4 billion. The approval permits charter formation but does not authorize operations: the company must complete capitalization within 12 months, commence operations within 18 months, and satisfy a minimum capital requirement of approximately $20 million, among other conditions.
The next day, Senator Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, along with nine other Democratic and independent lawmakers, introduced the Terminating President's Banking Corruption Act, which would bar the Federal Reserve, the OCC, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation from granting licenses, deposit insurance, or master accounts to entities owned or controlled by the president, vice president, their spouses and children, members of Congress, presidentially appointed executive officials, or special government employees. Warren characterized the president approving, operating, and supervising "his own bank" as the most blatant self-dealing the financial system has witnessed. The White House has denied any conflict of interest involving the president or his family.
Charter details and ownership structure
World Liberty Financial was co-founded in 2024 by two of Trump's sons and the son of Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. Zachary Witkoff serves as group CEO and is listed as the organizer, director, and president in the trust bank application. The company's website indicates that DT Marks DEFI LLC, associated with the Trump family, holds approximately 38% of the holding company. National trust banks typically do not accept public deposits or issue commercial loans; their regulatory significance lies in bringing stablecoin issuance and custody under the federal banking law framework and facilitating institutional client access to payment and custody systems. Other firms receiving similar conditional approvals at the same time include BitGo, Ripple, and Paxos, so the dispute centers not on whether crypto companies can obtain trust charters, but on the capital relationship between the applicant and the sitting president's family.
The OCC letter includes "passive commitments" from several indirect investors, including a document signed by Eric Trump, pledging not to seek board seats, nominate directors, solicit proxies, or attempt to influence operations, with voting rights for holdings above 9.9% delegated to management. Regulators stated that certain foreign investors are not deemed principal shareholders of the bank. The application was submitted on January 5, 2026, exceeding the 120-day window commonly referenced in the OCC manual. The agency stated that career staff reviewed the matter within their delegated authority and received public comments regarding conflicts of interest and UAE-linked investors.
Bill provisions and both sides' positions
The bill text would prohibit three regulatory agencies from approving banking applications controlled by specified public officials or their close relatives. Cosponsors include Van Hollen, Alsobrooks, Murphy, Sanders, Blumenthal, Reed, Kim, Duckworth, and Gallego. The watchdog group CREW called this a prominent example of presidential business activities benefiting from public office. Austin Campbell, a professor at NYU Stern School of Business, noted that the OCC must regulate an institution tied to the president's family, an unprecedented situation.
The White House has previously stated that the president and his family will not engage in transactions conflicting with official duties, asserting that administrative decisions prioritize the American people's interests. Witkoff said the application underwent one of the most thorough reviews in OCC history, and the company accepts the obligations and ongoing scrutiny attached to a national charter. A trust charter does not automatically confer deposit-taking or lending powers; Democrats' characterization of it as the "president's bank" is a political framing of the ownership and regulatory chain, rather than a precise description of the charter's legal category.
Financial disclosure figures vary. The Los Angeles Times reported that Trump's crypto-related projects generated over $1.2 billion in revenue, with World Liberty product sales exceeding $500 million; other reports cite annual crypto revenue around $1.4 billion, or World Liberty token sales of approximately $526 million and UAE-linked investor equity of about $263 million. These figures derive from disclosures and media reports, not court findings. The family's revenue-sharing arrangement in the company has also been reported as significant, but company and disclosure documents should be treated as authoritative.
Legislative outlook and stablecoin regulatory competition
The Republican-controlled Senate is unlikely to pass the bill in the near term. Its function is more to provide an ethics talking point for midterm elections and to align with public official crypto restrictions under negotiation in the CLARITY Act. Democrats remain internally divided on industry legislation: some centrists demand stricter conflict-of-interest rules, while others are reluctant to alienate industry political donors. Even if the bill passed, the OCC's preliminary approval has already been granted, and final operations depend on capital, staffing, and examinations, not on a ban that has yet to become law.
For USD1, a national trust charter could shift issuance from state trust or non-bank custody into the federal framework, attracting institutional flows with cheaper redemption during stress periods, competing with firms like Circle. For traditional banks, stablecoin trust charters expand the channel for non-depository institutions to access the dollar payment layer. For regulatory credibility, the core question is whether scrutiny of a family-linked applicant meets the same standard applied to BitGo and Paxos, especially given the president's executive orders increasing control over the OCC. The agency points to career staff review and passive commitments; critics argue commitments cannot eliminate the incentive structure.