World Liberty Financial, a crypto firm with ties to the Trump family, is in the “final stages” of receiving conditional approval for a national trust bank charter from a division of the Treasury Department, co-founder Zach Witkoff said Thursday. The potential approval would mark a significant step for the company, allowing it to handle key banking functions for its USD1 stablecoin.
“We’re really excited to hopefully get our charter,” Witkoff said during a panel at the Consensus crypto conference in Miami. “I think we’re in the final stages of receiving conditional approval.”
The application was submitted in January by the firm’s WLTC Holdings entity to a division of President Donald Trump’s Treasury Department. If granted, the charter would provide the company with direct access to the federal financial system, reducing its reliance on third-party banks and lending legitimacy to its stablecoin operations. The firm’s USD1 stablecoin has real-time proof of reserves through a partnership with Chainlink, Witkoff noted.
The move is part of a broader industry trend where crypto companies are increasingly seeking bank licenses to move out of regulatory grey areas and signal stability to institutional clients. However, World Liberty Financial's high-profile application has drawn sharp criticism from Democrats. Senator Elizabeth Warren has pointed to the potential approval as evidence of “perhaps the most disgraceful presidential corruption scandal in U.S. history.”
During the same panel, Witkoff and co-founder Donald Trump Jr. also pushed back against online rumors and addressed their ongoing legal fight with Tron founder Justin Sun. Trump Jr. dismissed speculation that his family had abandoned the project after the company’s website was temporarily changed. “I don’t think I’d be on this stage here if that was the case,” he said.
The firm recently filed a defamation lawsuit against Sun, one of its top financial backers, alleging he spread falsehoods and secretly shorted the company's native token, WLFI. This followed a suit from Sun claiming the company had unfairly frozen his tokens. “We wouldn’t have filed the lawsuit if we didn’t have the receipts,” Witkoff said.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
