World Liberty Financial has taken its dollar-pegged stablecoin fully onchain inside one of the fastest-growing institutional blockchain networks in finance. On August 25, the company confirmed that World Liberty Financial’s USD1 stablecoin, now valued at $4.05 billion, is issued natively on the Canton Network, giving banks, asset managers and other institutions a way to settle tokenized securities and cash payments inside a single, synchronized transaction.
Key takeaways
- World Liberty Financial’s USD1 stablecoin, worth $4.05 billion, is now issued directly on the Canton Network rather than bridged from another chain.
- Native issuance lets institutions settle a tokenized asset and its USD1 payment in the same synchronized transaction, cutting settlement risk.
- USD1 is fully reserved, redeemable one-to-one for U.S. dollars, and ranks as the sixth-largest dollar-pegged stablecoin, according to DeFiLlama.
- World Liberty Trust Company has conditional OCC charter approval but still needs final authorization before it can take over USD1 issuance from BitGo Bank & Trust.
- Canton processes more than $9 trillion in tokenized assets monthly and $350 billion in onchain U.S. Treasurys daily, and is piloting a benefits payment program with the American Idea Foundation.
World Liberty Launches USD1 Stablecoin on Canton Network
Native issuance means USD1 no longer has to travel through a bridge from another blockchain to reach Canton. Instead, the token is minted and settled directly on the network, which lets an institution swap USD1 for a tokenized asset in one move rather than two separate, sequential transfers.
Synchronized settlement cuts a familiar risk
Canton’s system synchronizes both sides of a trade so the cash and the asset settle together, according to World Liberty’s announcement. That structure addresses a problem long familiar to trading desks: the risk that one leg of a transaction completes while the other stays outstanding, tying up capital or exposing a counterparty. Canton applies privacy and permissioning controls on top of that settlement layer, letting participating firms decide who can view transaction details while still meeting the compliance standards regulated markets expect.
Institutions can now put USD1 to work well beyond simple payments. World Liberty said the stablecoin can serve as collateral for derivatives and institutional loans, fund new Around the clock, it enables the issuance of assets, handles redemption processes, facilitates financing arrangements, and executes cross-border payment settlements. Tokenized government debt, repurchase agreements and treasury-management trades typically require a matching cash leg, and World Liberty is positioning USD1 as that dollar-denominated counterpart without routing the payment through a separate network.
USD1’s Backing and Market Position
USD1 is fully reserved and redeemable for U.S. dollars on a one-to-one basis, backed by U.S. government money market funds, dollar deposits, and other cash equivalents, alongside monthly published reserve documentation, according to World Liberty. That structure mirrors the model most large dollar stablecoins now use to reassure institutional counterparties that a token can always be converted back to cash at par.
Sixth-largest stablecoin by market cap
DeFiLlama data puts USD1’s market value at roughly $4.05 billion, making it the sixth-largest dollar-pegged stablecoin by capitalization. That is a sharp jump from December 2025, when World Liberty and Canton first disclosed plans for the deployment and USD1’s market cap stood at just over $2 billion. Much of the token’s early volume traces back to a single transaction: in May 2025, Abu Dhabi-backed investment firm MGX used USD1 to settle its investment in Binance, a $2 billion deal that had originally been announced without naming the settlement asset.
Regulatory Status and the Road to Full OCC Authorization
World Liberty’s stablecoin ambitions still depend on a regulatory green light that hasn’t fully arrived. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted World Liberty Trust Company conditional charter approval on August 14, letting the firm move forward with organizing a national trust bank — but that approval does not let the proposed institution start operating.
Before receiving final authorization, World Liberty Trust is required to hold a minimum of $20 million in eligible capital, hire a qualified internal audit manager, and fulfill additional preopening obligations set by the OCC, which retains the ability to change, suspend or withdraw its preliminary approval before the bank opens. Once — and if — that final sign-off comes through, The trust company intends to assume responsibility for USD1 issuance, redemption, and reserve management previously handled by BitGo Bank & Trust, which currently handles those functions. The proposed bank would also offer digital-asset custody and stablecoin conversion services to institutional clients, though unlike a conventional bank it would not accept ordinary deposits or issue standard loans.
Political scrutiny follows the Trump family connection
The OCC’s decision has not gone unnoticed in Washington. An entity affiliated with President Donald Trump and members of his family holds an interest in World Liberty’s parent company, and the OCC itself is led by a political appointee of the president — a combination Democrats have called a stark example of potential conflict of interest, since there has been no prior case of a sitting president holding an interest in a bank his own administration would approve and regulate.
A World Liberty spokesperson pushed back on conflict-of-interest concerns, telling media outlets: “Critics are missing the point: World Liberty Financial is running towards regulation and continuous oversight, not away from it,” and arguing the national charter “will ensure robust and permanent regulatory supervision from the OCC … that will outlast the Trump administration.” The OCC has said its review of the application was handled by career staff rather than the Trump-appointed agency head.
World Liberty CEO Zach Witkoff addressed the criticism directly on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” the same day the Canton integration went live. Pointing to trading data he said he checked before going on air, Witkoff noted that USD1 saw $1.7 billion in volume over the trailing 24 hours. “There’s over $4 billion of USD1 in circulation [and] over a billion dollars trades every single day in volume in USD1 … that speaks to the use case of USD1, it speaks to customers actually using it,” he said, adding that he has “never talked to” the president about business and doesn’t dwell on the conflict-of-interest allegations. Trump’s own financial disclosure showed roughly $515 million in income from World Liberty token sales and $65 million from equity sales in the company’s holding structure during 2025, according to CNBC.
Canton Network’s Scale and Next Institutional Bets
The USD1 deployment lands inside a network already handling enormous volumes of institutional activity. Canton says more than $9 trillion in tokenized assets are issued or processed across the network every month, alongside more than $350 billion in onchain U.S. Treasurys moving daily — figures that reflect trading activity rather than total value locked on the chain. Canton’s synchronized settlement design isn’t new to the network: Tradeweb disclosed in July, Franklin Templeton executed a transfer of tokenized U.S. Treasury securities to Virtu Financial in return for USDCx, involving Canton matching both sides of the trade in real time.
A benefits payment pilot moves toward 2027
Digital Asset, the firm behind Canton, is also testing the network’s reach beyond capital markets. In August, Digital Asset and former House Speaker Paul Ryan’s American Idea Foundation unveiled a pilot program called Resources for Independence, Stability, and Employment, designed to combine separate government benefits into monthly or twice-monthly payments. The pilot is scheduled to begin in three U.S. states during the first quarter of 2027, subject to federal approval. Canton would apply rules covering approved spending categories, restrict access to recipients’ sensitive information, and let administrators automatically adjust payments when a recipient’s reported income changes. Digital Asset and the foundation have not disclosed which states or which benefit programs will take part.
FAQ
What is the significance of USD1 stablecoin native issuance on Canton Network?
Native issuance on Canton allows synchronized settlement of tokenized assets and USD1 payments in one transaction, reducing settlement risk.
How is USD1 backed and redeemable?
USD1 is fully reserved and redeemable one-to-one for U.S. dollars, with reserves including dollar deposits and money market funds and monthly reserve disclosure.
What regulatory approval does World Liberty Trust Company currently hold for USD1 operations?
World Liberty Trust Company holds a conditional OCC charter approval but must meet additional requirements, including a $20 million eligible capital threshold, before final authorization.
What institutional use cases does USD1 support?
USD1 is used for collateral, lending, issuance, redemptions, and 24/7 cross-border payments by institutions operating on Canton.
Article produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed by the editorial team.
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