Trump-linked crypto venture receives conditional trust charter from OCC
World Liberty Financial secured conditional charter approval from the US banking regulator while ten Democratic lawmakers introduced legislation aimed at "preventing corruption in banking applications."
Facing intense scrutiny and allegations of conflicts of interest from numerous members of Congress, World Liberty Financial received conditional approval from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for its national trust bank application.
The OCC announced on Friday that it had conditionally approved World Liberty's charter request, which comes with specific regulatory and policy conditions, enabling the firm to conduct operations as World Liberty Trust Company, National Association. The company's application outlined plans to issue stablecoins backed by US dollars and provide custody services for digital assets associated with the company's USD1 token.
The regulatory approval arrived against a backdrop of growing concerns regarding possible conflicts of interest involving World Liberty and the family of US President Donald Trump. Trump and his three sons maintain affiliations with the venture, while OCC head Jonathan Gould received his nomination from Trump in 2025. Additionally, World Liberty's website disclosed that a Trump family entity maintains control over 38% of the company's equity interests.
The agency stated that "the Comptroller and staff acted consistently with their statutory duties and ethical obligations with respect to the Application." Following a communication from Senator Elizabeth Warren, Gould had previously stated that the application would undergo an "apolitical and nonpartisan process" for review.
Reacting to the approval on Friday, Warren declared that she had put forward legislation "to stop this kind of unprecedented corruption," characterizing the OCC's decision as "the most brazen act of self-dealing our financial system has ever seen." Together with nine fellow senators, she introduced the Ending Presidential Corruption in Banking Act in the wake of the approval.
During the Trump administration under Gould's leadership, the OCC has granted approval or conditional approval to several applications from cryptocurrency companies pursuing trust charters to broaden their service offerings in the US. Following the passage of the GENIUS stablecoin bill in Congress, the agency granted approvals in December to applications from Circle, Ripple Labs, Crypto.com and Coinbase.
World Liberty's UAE ties under scrutiny in US Congress
While the OCC approval moves forward, numerous legislators continue demanding investigations into World Liberty's connections to foreign entities that could potentially exert influence over US policy through Trump.
According to reports, an investment company based in Abu Dhabi and supported by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who serves as the United Arab Emirates' national security adviser, acquired a 49% ownership stake in World Liberty during January 2025 for $500 million. A separate UAE entity known as MGX utilized World Liberty's USD1 stablecoin to make a $2 billion investment in cryptocurrency exchange Binance. Subsequently, Trump granted a presidential pardon to Changpeng Zhao, the former CEO of Binance.
A spokesperson for the White House has consistently maintained that there were "no conflicts of interest" regarding Trump's investments.