The Trump family’s crypto platform, World Liberty Financial, has filed for a national trust banking charter to accelerate the institutional adoption of its USD1 stablecoin.
World Liberty said on Wednesday that its subsidiary WLTC Holdings filed with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a charter that would allow it to issue, custody and convert its stablecoin in-house, rather than rely on third-party providers such as BitGo.
“Institutions are already using USD1 for cross-border payments, settlement, and treasury operations,” said World Liberty CEO Zach Witkoff. “A national trust charter will allow us to bring issuance, custody, and conversion together as a full-stack offering under one highly regulated entity.”
World Liberty’s trust bank would allow fee-free minting and redemption of USD1, as well as converting between US dollars and USD1, while enabling it to custody USD1 and other stablecoins.
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The OCC handed out five conditional approvals for banking charters in December to Circle, Ripple, Fidelity Digital Assets, BitGo and Paxos, signaling the regulator’s willingness to expand crypto services into TradFi.
Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould said at the time that “new entrants into the federal banking sector are good for consumers, the banking industry and the economy [as] they provide access to new products, services and sources of credit to consumers, and ensure a dynamic, competitive and diverse banking system.”
The OCC and World Liberty could face increased scrutiny with a banking charter, as some lawmakers have raised concerns about President Donald Trump’s potential conflicts of interest in World Liberty and his ties to the broader crypto industry.
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Trump is listed as a co-founder of the company alongside his sons Eric, Barron and Donald Trump Jr.
President Trump also came under fire for his ties to World Liberty, as he pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao after reportedly cutting deals that helped the Trumps’ platform.
Witkoff reportedly said that World Liberty structured a trust company “to avoid conflicts of interest,” noting that Trump and his family wouldn’t serve as executives or exercise day-to-day control of the business.
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Cointelegraph by Brayden Lindrea