OCC rubber-stamps Trump's crypto venture for national trust bank — senator calls it 🍿

The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has granted preliminary conditional approval to World Liberty Financial for a national trust bank charter, the company confirmed in a press release. The charter would permit the Trump-affiliated crypto firm to operate as World Liberty Trust Company, National Association (WLTC) and to issue its USD1 stablecoin while custodying the token's reserves. The firm had submitted its application at the start of the year.

World Liberty now joins Ripple, Fidelity, Paxos, Circle, Coinbase and Crypto.com among crypto companies that have received conditional or full OCC approval for trust charters under Comptroller Jonathan Gould. In December, the OCC approved applications from Circle, Ripple Labs, Crypto.com and Coinbase after Congress passed the GENIUS stablecoin bill. World Liberty's USD1 token gained more than 2% following the announcement.

The approval drew immediate criticism from lawmakers who cited potential conflicts of interest. U.S. President Donald Trump and his three sons are affiliated with World Liberty, and a Trump family entity controls 38% of the company's equity interests, according to the firm's website. Gould was nominated by Trump in 2025 and had previously pledged to review the application in an "apolitical and nonpartisan process" after a letter from Senator Elizabeth Warren.

Responding to the approval, Warren said on Friday she had introduced legislation "to stop this kind of unprecedented corruption," calling the OCC's move "the most brazen act of self-dealing our financial system has ever seen." Warren and nine senators introduced the Ending Presidential Corruption in Banking Act following the decision. The OCC said "the Comptroller and staff acted consistently with their statutory duties and ethical obligations with respect to the Application."

The approval also renewed scrutiny of World Liberty's foreign ties. An Abu Dhabi investment company backed by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the United Arab Emirates' national security adviser, purchased a 49% stake in World Liberty in January 2025 for $500 million, according to prior reporting. A separate UAE entity, MGX, used the USD1 stablecoin to invest $2 billion in crypto exchange Binance, after which Trump issued a presidential pardon for former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao. A White House spokesperson has repeatedly said there were "no conflicts of interest" with Trump's investments.