A Trump-appointed regulator grants the family crypto firm a conditional national bank charter
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted World Liberty Financial preliminary conditional approval to establish a national trust bank, allowing it to issue, redeem and custody its USD1 stablecoin under OCC supervision.
What happened
World Liberty Financial says on its website that it is 38% owned by "an entity affiliated with Donald J. Trump and certain of his family members". Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al Nahyan, the UAE's national security advisor and brother of its president, and his co-investors are behind StringZ Holding RSC, which holds 49% of the bank's holding company, WLTC Holdings; an entity affiliated with Trump's family holds a further 38%. Tahnoon's group put $500 million into World Liberty in January 2025, the month Trump began his second term, for a 49% stake — a deal that directed $263 million to Trump family entities, according to his 2025 disclosure (money-2025-01-15-002). The bank will be led by Zach Witkoff, who founded the company with Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Barron Trump; Donald Trump was listed as co-founder emeritus when the application was filed in January 2026. USD1 had over $4 billion in circulation at approval. Conditions include $20 million minimum tier 1 capital and 180 days of operating expenses. The charter limits the bank to the operations of a trust company, and it will not be an FDIC-insured depository institution. The OCC said its staff "acted consistently with their statutory duties and ethical obligations with respect to the Application." No payment to the family is recorded here — the benefit is the charter itself.
Why it matters
A regulator inside the president's own administration granted the president's family's firm bank status — the first time in U.S. history for a company owned by a sitting president's family. "President Trump is now the first President in history to approve, operate, and supervise his own bank," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). She also called it "the most brazen act of self-dealing our financial system has ever seen."
Sources
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Corporate Decision #1385 (2026-08-14), bankingdive.com, occ.gov, abcnews.com, cnbc.com, cnbc.com, wsj.com