Trump-Affiliated World Liberty Financial Nears OCC Federal Trust Charter
Miles Bennett
The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is expected to approve a federal trust bank charter for Trump-family crypto venture World Liberty Financial — former officials call rejection 'unimaginable' — putting the president's family one step from directly controlling a federally chartered financial institution.
What powers does this charter actually grant?
A federal trust bank charter lets World Liberty issue and redeem its USD1 stablecoin in-house, manage reserve assets, and offer digital-asset custody and settlement — all under a single federal regulator.
This means → BitGo's current middleman role disappears; World Liberty builds its own rails instead of borrowing someone else's.
The federal charter overrides most state-level regulations — one license, nationwide reach, no state-by-state compliance hurdle.
OCC has conditionally approved similar applications from Circle, Ripple, and BitGo. World Liberty is not the first crypto applicant — but it is the first directly tied to a sitting president's family.
Why do former officials say rejection is "unimaginable"?
Two anonymous former OCC staffers told NOTUS that approval is all but certain; one called rejection "unimaginable."
In plain terms = OCC already set the precedent with Circle and Ripple. Rejecting a legally similar application now would invite accusations of selective enforcement.
OCC Comptroller Jonathan Gould signaled the same posture at a Senate hearing: "I will process this application according to my statutory obligations, the same way I process all applications."
Where does the money go — how large is the conflict?
Per World Liberty's own disclosure filings, 75% of WLFI token sale proceeds flow to DT Marks DEFI LLC, an entity controlled by Trump.
Reuters estimated on June 9 that since Trump's second term began, the Trump family has earned over $2.3 billion across four crypto ventures — World Liberty is the largest contributor.
This means → This is not passive asset holding. The presidential family is actively and continuously monetizing token sales, and a federal charter would scale that pipeline further.
What is Congress investigating?
The U.S. House has launched an inquiry into potential conflicts of interest and national-security risks, focused on the USD1 stablecoin.
The fact chain under scrutiny: the UAE invested $500 million in World Liberty, linked to a $2 billion Binance transaction, timed to coincide with the U.S. easing AI chip export restrictions.
In plain terms = Congress suspects foreign capital is reaching the presidential family via crypto, with policy concessions as a possible quid pro quo. This remains an investigation — no conclusions yet.
Regulatory independence — what is the real unresolved question?
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren directly pressured Gould at a hearing to reject or delay the application. Gould responded: "The only political pressure I feel is coming from you, Senator."
Warren fired back: "Once you approve this application, you go from being Trump's cheerleader to being an accomplice to his corruption."
This reflects a deeper fault line: the real dispute is not whether World Liberty meets the technical criteria — precedent has paved that road — but whether "procedural neutrality" can hold when the applicant has a direct financial link to the sitting president.
Once you approve this application, you go from being President Trump's cheerleader to being an accomplice to his corruption.
Elizabeth Warren
U.S. Democratic Senator
(February 2025, Senate Banking Committee hearing)
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.