The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Treasury Department's bank regulatory arm, on Friday conditionally approved an application by World Liberty Trust Company for a national trust bank charter. The decision, published in a letter on the OCC's website on 14 August 2026, clears an early but significant hurdle for the Trump family-linked crypto firm World Liberty Financial.
The approval is preliminary. World Liberty Trust Co. must still satisfy a set of pre-opening conditions before it can open for business. Those include maintaining at least $20 million in capital, keeping at least half of that in liquid assets, notifying the OCC of any major changes to its business plan, and hiring a qualified internal audit manager. No timeline has been set for when those requirements might be met.
World Liberty Financial is a crypto venture co-founded by President Donald Trump and his sons. The company states on its website that 38% of the firm is owned by an entity affiliated with Donald J. Trump and certain of his family members. The identity and full ownership structure of that entity have not been made public. Reuters calculations indicate the venture has funnelled more than $1.6 billion to the president and his family as of April.
The charter would give World Liberty the power to issue and redeem its USD1 stablecoin directly and to hold the US dollar assets and Treasury money market funds that back it. Both functions are currently handled by a third-party provider, BitGo Bank & Trust. The trust bank charter does not permit deposit-taking or conventional lending.
USD1 was launched by World Liberty Financial in March 2025. It has since grown to the fourth-largest stablecoin by market value, with a market capitalisation of approximately $4 billion. A stablecoin is a digital currency pegged to the value of a conventional asset, in this case the US dollar.
The OCC noted in its approval letter that the GENIUS Act expressly recognised the authority of uninsured national banks to issue stablecoins. That law provided the regulatory foundation the OCC cited for granting the charter.
World Liberty Trust Co. applied for the charter in January 2026. The company would be headquartered in Bay Harbor Islands, Florida.
The OCC's approval letter addressed conflict-of-interest concerns directly. It stated that the application was reviewed by career staff, that the bank would be supervised by nonpolitical examiners, and that the OCC acting head and staff had acted consistently with their statutory duties and ethical obligations. The OCC's current leadership was appointed by President Trump.
Democrats have been unconvinced. Senator Elizabeth Warren and other Democratic lawmakers have criticised the charter application, arguing that the president's substantial financial stake in the venture creates a direct conflict of interest. Whether those objections will translate into legal challenges remains unclear.
The OCC has received 40 de novo charter applications since 2025, approving 21, denying 2, and still reviewing the remainder. It approved 7 in 2025 and 15 so far in 2026. A de novo charter is one granted to a newly formed institution rather than an existing bank seeking a change in status.
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