OCC approves Trump family crypto firm for trust charter — SkimNews
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- The OCC gave conditional approval for World Liberty Financial's national trust bank charter, allowing the company to operate as World Liberty Trust Company, National Association, with plans to issue US dollar-backed stablecoins and custody assets tied to its USD1 token.
- World Liberty Financial is affiliated with Trump and his three sons, with a Trump family entity controlling 38% of the company's equity interests, according to the company's website.
- OCC Comptroller Jonathan Gould, nominated by Trump in 2025, said the application was reviewed in an "apolitical and nonpartisan process" after Senator Elizabeth Warren raised conflict-of-interest concerns.
- Senator Elizabeth Warren and nine other senators introduced the Ending Presidential Corruption in Banking Act following the approval, calling the OCC's move "the most brazen act of self-dealing our financial system has ever seen."
- An Abu Dhabi investment firm backed by UAE national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan purchased a 49% stake in World Liberty for $500 million in January 2025, per reports cited in the article.
- UAE-based MGX used World Liberty's USD1 stablecoin to invest $2 billion in crypto exchange Binance, and Trump later issued a presidential pardon for former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao.
- The OCC under Gould has approved or conditionally approved trust charter applications from Circle, Ripple Labs, Crypto.com, and Coinbase since December, following passage of the GENIUS stablecoin bill.
Why it matters: The conditional approval gives World Liberty Financial a federally regulated platform for stablecoin issuance and crypto custody despite unresolved conflict-of-interest concerns: Trump's family owns 38% and an Abu Dhabi firm owns 49%. Warren's 10-sponsor bill signals that congressional scrutiny could complicate or attempt to unwind the charter.
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