The federal regulator OCC has conditionally approved the application of World Liberty Trust Co., affiliated with the crypto firm World Liberty Financial, for a national trust bank charter. World Liberty Financial reports that 38% of the company is owned by a structure linked to Donald Trump and members of his family.
The banking license will allow World Liberty to issue stablecoins independently, rather than relying on the third-party service BitGo as it does now. Moving these services in-house could prove profitable.
The process is not yet complete: the company still needs to take additional steps, including raising capital. Under the Trump administration, the OCC has actively supported new applications for banking licenses—since 2025, there have already been 40 such applications, a significant increase compared to the Biden era, many of which are related to crypto projects.
Democrats have criticized the decision. Senator Elizabeth Warren had previously called on the OCC not to approve the application until Trump divests his stake in the company. After the approval, she stated that Trump had become the first president in history to both approve, manage, and control his own bank, calling it "the most brazen act of self-dealing" ever seen in the U.S. financial system, and announced a bill aimed at restricting bank ownership by presidents and senior officials.