The Trump administration has handed a major regulatory win to a cryptocurrency company tied to the president’s own family, and the timing alone is enough to raise eyebrows in Washington. On Friday, federal banking regulators granted conditional approval for World Liberty Trust Co. to operate as a chartered trust bank, a decision that hands new federal credibility to a venture in which President Donald Trump and his relatives hold a direct financial stake. The Trump crypto bank approval immediately drew fire from Democrats and watchdog groups who say it embodies exactly the kind of conflict of interest they’ve warned about since Trump returned to office.
Key takeaways
- The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency conditionally approved World Liberty Trust Co.’s application for a national trust bank charter, with additional requirements still needed before final approval.
- World Liberty Financial says it is 38 percent owned by an entity affiliated with Donald Trump and his family, who also hold 22.5 billion of the company’s governance tokens.
- The charter lets World Liberty manage its USD1 stablecoin directly under federal oversight instead of relying on third-party partner BitGo.
- Trump disclosed nearly $600 million in income from World Liberty token and equity sales in 2025, part of $1.4 billion in total crypto-related earnings.
- Senator Elizabeth Warren called the approval “the most brazen act of self-dealing our financial system has ever seen” and is pushing legislation to block similar deals.
OCC Grants Conditional Trust Bank Charter to World Liberty
The core of this story is straightforward: a federal regulator has cleared the path for a company backed by the sitting president’s family to run a bank-like institution supervised by that same administration. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Treasury Department’s bank regulatory arm, said in a letter posted Friday that it was conditionally approving World Liberty Trust Co.’s application for a national trust bank charter. The company still has to clear additional steps, including raising capital, before the OCC signs off for good.
That single sentence explains why this OCC trust bank charter decision matters well beyond crypto circles. It’s one of the most direct official actions any federal agency has taken involving Trump’s private financial interests since he returned to the White House, and it arrives while Washington is already parsing a steady stream of news about Trump-linked businesses expanding under his watch.
Scope and Limits of the Charter
It’s worth being precise about what this charter actually allows. The approval does not let World Liberty open a traditional bank. Instead, it creates a national trust bank — a limited-purpose institution barred from making loans or accepting federally insured deposits. What it can do is issue and redeem its USD1 stablecoin directly, manage the reserves that back the token, and offer digital asset custody services without leaning on an outside partner. World Liberty currently uses BitGo for some of that stablecoin work; bringing those functions in-house could prove financially lucrative for the company. The charter would also let World Liberty operate across state lines more freely, without having to answer to a patchwork of individual state regulators.
Trump Family’s Stake in World Liberty
World Liberty Trust Co. is sponsored by World Liberty Financial, and according to the company’s own website, an entity “affiliated with Donald J. Trump and certain of his family members” owns 38 percent of the holding company behind it. That entity, DT Marks DEFI LLC, along with Trump family members, also holds 22.5 billion of World Liberty’s governance tokens. In short, the people whose administration just approved this charter are also among its largest beneficiaries.
Income and Governance Tokens
The dollar figures behind that stake are substantial. Trump disclosed nearly $600 million in income from World Liberty token and equity sales in 2025 alone — a chunk of the roughly $1.4 billion in total crypto-related earnings he reported for the year. World Liberty Financial’s chief executive and chairman of the trust company, Zach Witkoff, framed the charter as a win for accountability rather than access. “USD1 grew because institutions trust how it operates, and confidence at enterprise scale deserves the backing of federal supervision,” Witkoff said in a statement, adding, “We welcome continuous scrutiny from Federal regulators for many years to come.” Witkoff is the son of Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy. World Liberty has separately said Trump himself The company operates independently without Trump’s involvement in its management, and its leadership and workforce maintain no federal government positions; his children oversee his financial interests, according to the White House.
Political Backlash and Ethics Concerns
Not everyone is convinced by that distinction. Democrats and ethics watchdogs argue this is one of the clearest cases yet of officials weighing decisions that directly benefit a company tied to the president’s own family. Senator Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, didn’t mince words after the OCC’s decision: “This is the most brazen act of self-dealing our financial system has ever seen — and Congress cannot allow it to stand.” Warren also said Trump has become “the first President in history to approve, operate, and supervise his own bank.” She had previously pressed the OCC to pause its review of World Liberty’s application until Trump divested his interests and eliminated conflicts tied to the company.
Donald Sherman, chief executive of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, went further, calling the approval “the most egregious example to date of the President’s businesses profiting from his government job” and arguing that “the President continues to boost the crypto market at the expense of everyday Americans who are wondering what happened to the money in their own bank accounts.” This is a crucial crypto conflict of interest flashpoint precisely because the regulator making the call reports, ultimately, to the same administration whose family stands to profit.
Warren’s Legislation and a Possible Congressional Probe
Warren and several Senate colleagues unveiled legislation Friday that would bar regulators from approving banks owned or controlled by a sitting president, vice president, members of Congress, or other senior government officials and their families. A Democratic Senate aide told reporters the Banking Committee would likely investigate the OCC’s approval next year if Democrats retake control of Congress. Separately, some congressional Democrats have already withheld support from the Clarity Act, a broader crypto regulatory bill, specifically because it doesn’t impose strict limits on the president’s ability to profit from crypto ventures. The OCC declined to comment on the approval when asked.
What This Means for Crypto Regulation
This isn’t happening in isolation. The OCC under Trump has actively encouraged new bank charter applications and has received 40 of them since 2025 — a sharp jump compared with the pace under President Joe Biden — with many tied to crypto projects. Firms including Circle, Ripple and Coinbase have already secured similar green lights, which suggests World Liberty’s approval fits a broader regulatory pattern rather than a one-off favor, even as critics say the family ties here set it apart from the rest.
Why does that broader pattern matter? Federal supervision, once finalized, tends to boost institutional confidence in a stablecoin like USD1, since banks, funds and payment companies are generally more comfortable dealing with tokens overseen by a chartered entity than with unregulated alternatives. That’s the case World Liberty is making publicly. But the same approval that could expand USD1’s reach is also the one fueling accusations of self-dealing at the highest level of government — and that tension, between regulatory legitimacy and perceived conflict of interest, is unlikely to be resolved before World Liberty clears its remaining requirements for final approval.
FAQ
What approval did the OCC grant to World Liberty Trust Co.?
The OCC granted conditional approval for World Liberty Trust Co. to operate a federally chartered trust bank, pending additional requirements for final approval.
What role does the Trump family have in World Liberty Trust Co.?
Donald Trump and his family hold substantial financial interests, including about 38 percent ownership through DT Marks DEFI LLC and 22.5 billion governance tokens.
What are the restrictions of the trust bank charter granted to World Liberty?
The charter is for a national trust bank that cannot perform traditional bank activities such as issuing loans or accepting federally insured deposits.
Why has the OCC approval of World Liberty been controversial?
Democrats and ethics watchdogs criticized it as a conflict of interest because of the Trump family’s financial stake, calling it self-dealing and proposing legislation to prevent such approvals in the future.
Article produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed by the editorial team.
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