The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency conditionally approved a national trust bank charter for World Liberty Financial on Friday, clearing the entity to operate as World Liberty Trust Company, National Association. The company's application described plans to issue dollar-backed stablecoins and custody digital assets tied to its USD1 token under the new charter.
President Donald Trump and his three sons are affiliated with World Liberty, and a Trump family entity controls 38% of the company's equity. The approval landed under an OCC led by Jonathan Gould, whom Trump nominated to the post in 2025 — a detail critics have seized on as central to the conflict-of-interest concerns now surrounding the decision.
A Charter Approved by the President's Own Appointee
Details of the approval are laid out in the OCC's own corporate decision filing, which grants World Liberty Trust Company preliminary conditional approval to operate as a national trust bank. The agency defended the move by asserting that its Comptroller and staff "acted consistently with their statutory duties and ethical obligations."
Lawmakers Respond With Legislation
Related: Treasury Opens Public Comment on GENIUS Act Stablecoin Licensing
The approval prompted an immediate legislative response. Senator Elizabeth Warren and nine other senators introduced the Ending Presidential Corruption in Banking Act in its wake, arguing that a bank charter granted to a firm tied to the sitting president by a regulator he appointed represents an unacceptable conflict of interest.
The most brazen act of self-dealing our financial system has ever seen.
Warren said the bill was designed "to stop this kind of unprecedented corruption." Outside groups have raised similar objections: Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund has argued the OCC exceeded its statutory authority in granting the charter, while other critics say the move blurs the congressionally mandated separation between banking and commerce.
Foreign Capital in the Background
World Liberty's ownership structure has drawn additional scrutiny. An Abu Dhabi investment firm backed by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan bought a 49% stake in the company in January 2025 for $500 million, and a separate UAE entity, MGX, later used World Liberty's USD1 stablecoin to make a $2 billion investment into Binance. Trump subsequently pardoned former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, a decision critics have pointed to as part of the same web of financial ties now feeding objections to the trust charter.
