Key Takeaways:
The Trump-backed crypto project's federal trust bank charter would let it issue USD1 directly to consumers under a single regulator.
World Liberty Financial, the stablecoin platform co-founded by President Donald Trump's sons, is expected to receive a national trust bank charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, according to two former OCC staffers who spoke with NOTUS.
"It's inconceivable that World Liberty Financial wouldn't be approved," one former staffer told NOTUS, describing a denial as virtually impossible under current OCC head Jonathan Gould.
Gould has approved roughly a dozen crypto companies for bank charters since taking office, compressing what were once two-year waits into a 120-day target. A national trust bank charter would allow World Liberty Financial to issue and redeem its USD1 stablecoin directly to retail users without routing through a third-party custodian like BitGo, and settle transactions internally the way PayPal or Venmo process payments.
The approval would hand a Trump-family venture the implicit credibility of federal oversight while expanding its capacity to profit from USD1 transactions. President Trump holds a 70% stake in an LLC that controls 38% of the holding company behind World Liberty Financial, and reported $57 million in personal earnings from the venture covering 2024 alone — a figure that has likely grown as USD1's circulating supply climbed to roughly $4.6 billion, up from about $3.3 billion at the start of the year.
A Charter With National Reach
A federal trust bank charter would also preempt state money transmitter licensing requirements across all 50 states. The OCC confirmed in a May 2026 interpretive letter involving Fidelity Digital Assets that the National Bank Act preempts state licensing regimes for national banks, meaning World Liberty Financial could operate in any state without applying for individual money transmitter licenses — a structural advantage that state-chartered trust companies do not share.
World Liberty Financial has already used USD1 in high-profile settings. The company funded a $250,000 fighter bonus pool at UFC Freedom 250, an event hosted on the White House grounds in June, paying fighters entirely in its stablecoin. The promotion gave USD1 one of its largest public showcases and drew criticism from crypto policy experts who argued it effectively served as a government-adjacent advertisement for the token.
Conflict of Interest Questions Persist
The OCC's expected approval has renewed scrutiny of the overlap between Trump's business interests and his administration's regulatory apparatus. World Liberty Financial's spokesperson told NOTUS that Trump stepped back from any operational role upon entering office, that no employees hold government roles, and that charter approval would subject the firm to tighter regulatory scrutiny through mandatory OCC oversight and anti-money laundering compliance.
The company faces additional headwinds. World Liberty Financial is involved in an ongoing legal dispute with crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun, who alleged the company improperly froze some of his WLFI governance token holdings. The company has countersued for defamation. Earlier this year, the platform also faced criticism after a borrowing arrangement on the decentralized lending protocol Dolomite pushed utilization in a USD1 lending pool to roughly 93%, temporarily preventing some retail depositors from withdrawing funds.
USD1's growth has continued despite those challenges. The stablecoin's $4.6 billion circulating supply places it among the larger dollar-pegged tokens, though it remains far behind market leaders Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC, which each command supplies above $100 billion.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
