CryptoCurrency
Trump family’s crypto firm WLFI seeks bank charter
World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s flagship crypto venture, is making a decisive push into traditional finance, applying for a national banking charter as Washington opens the door to tighter—but more legitimizing—oversight of digital assets.
Summary
- The application places World Liberty Trust among a growing group of crypto firms seeking trust bank charters.
- The goal is to issue and safeguard stablecoins, a move that could accelerate institutional adoption while intensifying scrutiny over political influence, conflicts of interest, and systemic risk.
- Trump’s crypto ventures, which began in 2024, have reportedly ballooned his net worth by billions of dollars.
World Liberty Trust filed a de novo application this week with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which regulates and supervises national banks, according to the Wall Street Journal.
If approved, the charter would allow the entity to issue and custody USD1, the dollar-backed stablecoin launched by World Liberty Financial last year. USD1 currently has a market value of about $3.4 billion, bolstered in part by its use in a $2 billion investment in crypto exchange Binance by a third-party investor.
The filing follows recent approvals of trust bank charters for major crypto players including BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, Circle, Ripple, and Paxos, signaling a broader regulatory shift under the Trump administration toward integrating crypto firms into the banking system. Trust banks differ from traditional banks in that they typically cannot accept deposits or make loans, though critics argue the charters could still introduce systemic risk.
World Liberty plans to offer crypto custody and stablecoin conversion services to institutional clients such as exchanges, market makers, and investment firms. Executives say a charter would reduce reliance on third-party providers and speed product development.
The move has drawn criticism over potential conflicts of interest, given President Trump’s profitable crypto businesses, which have reportedly grown his net worth by over $1 billion, and his pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao.
Company leaders say the trust has been structured to avoid conflicts, with Trump family members holding only nonvoting interests and no operational control.
