World Liberty Trust Bank Gets Conditional OCC Nod for USD1

A Trump-linked stablecoin moves inside the federal banking perimeter

On August 14, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency gave preliminary conditional approval to World Liberty Trust Company, National Association. The proposed national trust bank is tied to World Liberty Financial, the crypto venture connected to President Donald Trump's family.114 The decision appears in the OCC's Corporate Decision #1385. The bank would be based in Bay Harbor Islands, Florida. It would issue and redeem the USD1 stablecoin, hold the reserves behind it, and provide digital asset custody to institutional clients.311 World Liberty filed the charter application in January.11

The approval is preliminary, and that matters. The trust company cannot open until it meets a list of pre-opening conditions and receives final authorization from the OCC.114 The decision is still important. It is one of the clearest signs so far that, under the new stablecoin rules, the federal government is willing to bring a politically connected crypto issuer directly into the bank supervisory system. It also puts the agency at the center of a conflict-of-interest dispute that it cannot fully settle with procedure.2

What the charter actually permits

News outlets agree on the main point: this is not a full bank. A national trust charter generally does not allow the institution to take deposits or make loans. What it offers is a single federal framework for custody, asset servicing and settlement.18 Decrypt adds details from the OCC letter. The trust bank will not carry FDIC insurance. It will not seek a Federal Reserve master account for now. It has also committed to staying outside the definition of a "bank" under the Bank Holding Company Act.6 The OCC letter also states that stablecoins are not deposits under federal law. The bank's stablecoin activity must comply with the GENIUS Act, and the bank must stop or divest any activity that conflicts with that statute.3

One limit has received little attention. The decision says the bank will not issue, hold in custody or deal in WLFI, the venture's governance token.9 The charter covers USD1, custody and stablecoin conversion, not the more speculative token that is closely tied to the World Liberty brand.9 Under the business plan, custody clients could convert approved stablecoins into USD1 using assets they already hold at the institution.4

The custody angle: taking USD1 back from BitGo

The biggest practical effect is on custody. BitGo is currently the exclusive issuer and custodian of USD1.6 World Liberty launched the token with BitGo in March 2025.10 Once it is authorized to open, World Liberty Trust plans to replace BitGo Bank & Trust in that role. It would acquire the reserve assets and take on the liabilities attached to them.4 The OCC granted an exemption from parts of Regulation W covering limits, collateral rules and low-quality-asset restrictions in transactions with affiliates. Those rules could otherwise have complicated the transfer.4 BitGo keeps running issuance and custody until the new bank meets its conditions. If the final structure of the reserve transfer triggers federal bank-merger requirements, further regulatory clearance could be needed.4

This is a real shift in who controls the stablecoin's operations. BitGo is already a federally chartered national trust bank. Moving issuance, custody and reserves from an independent custodian to a World Liberty affiliate would change who holds the keys, even though both entities would answer to the same regulator.9 World Liberty presents the change as consolidation. Chairman Zach Witkoff said a national trust bank brings issuance, custody and reserve management together under OCC supervision, held to long-standing banking standards.11 The company describes the bank as having segregated customer assets, independent reserve management, AML and sanctions screening, and regular examinations. USD1 reserves are described as dollar deposits at financial institutions, government money market funds and cash equivalents.

Here is how we read it. Bringing these functions in-house makes commercial sense for a token with more than $4 billion in circulation.10 It also weakens one structural safeguard: the separation between the issuer and an unaffiliated custodian. Supervision is now the main protection against problems with the reserves.

The conditions and the clock

The OCC's conditions are fairly standard for a new (de novo) trust bank. World Liberty Trust must hold at least $20 million in tier 1 capital, with at least $10 million in eligible liquid assets. It must also keep enough liquidity to cover 180 days of operating expenses.15 It has to appoint a qualified internal audit manager and notify the OCC of major changes to its business plan.14 It must also apply for stock in a Federal Reserve Bank and receive written confirmation from the OCC that all opening conditions have been met.4

MarketWise lays out the timeline:

• Capital: must be raised within 12 months, by August 14, 2027.
• Readiness notice: due at least 60 days before opening, with a request for a pre-opening examination.
• Opening deadline: February 14, 2028, 18 months after preliminary approval.

9 Until then, the OCC can modify, suspend or withdraw its approval if new information raises concerns.4 The company has not given an opening date.10

The board has five members. Witkoff is chair. Scott Alper of Witkoff Group and Robert Witkoff, formerly of Chubb, also sit on it. The independent directors are Jeffrey Weiner, formerly of Marcum, and Erin Baskett.1513 Three of the five seats belong to Witkoff family members or Witkoff Group executives. That is a point critics are likely to raise, though the coverage does not frame it that way directly.

A crowded charter pipeline, with dates that don't line up

World Liberty is following a well-worn path. The GENIUS Act, the stablecoin law passed last year, set off a rush toward trust charters.6 Since 2025 the OCC has received 40 de novo charter applications, approved 21 and denied two. Comptroller Jonathan Gould's agency has conditionally approved firms including Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, Paxos and a Circle-linked entity.

The reporting on the order of those approvals is not consistent. One account says Circle, Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity and Paxos received conditional approvals in December 2025, followed by Coinbase, Crypto.com and Stripe's Bridge. It says Circle got final authorization in July.4 Another says Coinbase was conditionally approved in April 2026 and Circle in July 2026.3 The more detailed account suggests July was when Circle received final approval, not preliminary approval. Either way, the main point holds: conditional approval alone has never let a firm begin operating.4

The OCC defends the trend in pro-competition terms. An agency official said new entrants bring new products and more consumer choice.11 Industry outlets see a likely "bankification" of stablecoins, with pressure on offshore and state-regulated issuers to match federal oversight. That claim comes from a promotional release and should be weighed accordingly.

The conflict question the OCC chose not to answer

The political fight centers on ownership. World Liberty says an entity affiliated with Trump and some family members owns 38% of the company.11 The Wall Street Journal has reported that a UAE investment firm owns 49%.15 Another report says an Abu Dhabi company backed by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan bought that stake for $500 million in a deal signed in January 2025.4

The OCC received seven comments from four commenters.4 Its responses fall into three groups:

• Process: career staff reviewed the application, nonpolitical examiners would supervise the bank, and Gould and his staff acted in line with their statutory and ethical duties.14
• Scope: it largely treated the objections about the Trump family, the Witkoffs, Emirati investors and the Emoluments Clause as outside its review, noting that World Liberty Financial itself is not a party to the application.6
• Foreign investors: it found they were not principal shareholders of the proposed bank. StringZ Holdings, DT Marks SC and AMGUS signed passivity agreements barring them from seeking board seats, appointing staff or influencing operations.4 Eric Trump signed one of those commitments for an investing entity.6

That answer satisfies banking law, but critics argue it misses the real issue. Senator Elizabeth Warren called the approval "brazen" self-dealing. She and other Democratic senators said they would introduce a bill to stop presidents, vice presidents and their families from owning or controlling banks.12 Patrick Woodall of Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund argued that the conflict starts with the OCC's inability to reject the application in the first place.15 NYU's Austin Campbell pointed to the awkward position of a regulator that must police a firm affiliated with the president's family.12 Past controversy adds to the concern. Arkham data cited in February showed Binance-linked wallets holding nearly 87% of USD1 supply at the time. Binance and World Liberty denied any improper relationship.4

Our read

On the merits, this charter looks like the others: the same capital floor, the same GENIUS Act constraints and the same pre-opening hurdles. World Liberty's pitch that it is "running towards regulation" has some truth in it.12 The structure is what sets it apart. A president-linked firm would control the issuance and custody of a $4 billion token. It would be supervised by an agency led by that president's appointee, and its foreign co-owner's influence would be limited mainly by signed promises. The OCC's processes may well be sound. But because the agency set aside the ethics questions as outside its scope, the political debate is far from over. With an 18-month deadline, final authorization is likely to face much more scrutiny than a typical crypto charter.