A crypto firm partially owned by President Trump’s family received preliminary conditional approval for a bank charter on Friday.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) granted conditional approval for an application from World Liberty Trust Co. for a national trust bank, according to a letter posted on the OCC’s website.
The OCC noted in its letter that final approval is contingent on the satisfaction of “all preopening requirements” and that the office holds the right to “modify, suspend, or rescind” conditional approval.
This company is sponsored by World Liberty Financial, which is 38 percent owned by an entity sponsored by the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., and other members of the Trump family, according to a disclosure on the company’s website.
The proposed bank would be headquartered in Bay Harbor Islands, Fla., and this banking charter would allow the trust company to directly issue and redeem its USD1 stablecoin. This crypto token is valued at $1, and would be regulated by the OCC.
Zach Witkoff, the president of World Liberty Trust Co. and son of presidential special envoy Steve Witkoff, celebrated this development in a statement shared on social media.
“Rigorous oversight, institutional controls and clear accountability are how stablecoins become trusted financial infrastructure,” Witkoff wrote. “Our ambition is clear: to build the most trusted and widely used digital dollar in the world while strengthening the role of the U.S. dollar across the global economy.”
Some Democrats have raised concerns about potential ethics violations tied to this preliminary approval.
Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren, who had previously urged the OCC not to approve this request, called the approval “the most brazen act of self-dealing our financial system has ever seen” in a statement shared on social media.
Warren and 10 other Senate Democrats unveiled the “Ending Presidential Corruption in Banking Act” on Friday, which would prevent federal regulators from approving banks owned by the president or his family, as well as other top government officials.
OCC Senior Deputy Comptroller Stephen Lybarger addressed concerns of potential conflict of interest tied to this bank in his Friday letter.
“The Comptroller and staff acted consistently with their statutory duties and ethical obligations with respect to the Application,” Lybarger wrote. “Approvals of applications such as this are made under authority delegated by the Comptroller to career staff.”
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