American regulators have granted a banking license to a President Donald Trump-affiliated cryptocurrency company.
The Office for the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued its preliminary conditional approval Friday (Aug. 14) for a national banking charter requested by World Liberty Financial (WLF), a company led in part by the president’s older sons.
WLF plans include “dollar-backed stablecoin issuance and redemption and reserve maintenance in a nonfiduciary capacity,” according to the OCC’s decision.
It will also provide “digital asset custody services as a fiduciary” as well as “conversion services for custody customers in connection with their custodied assets” but will not be permitted to issue loans or accept direct deposits.
The conditional approval is happening as the question of the president’s business interest has become a sticking point in adopting new crypto legislation. Democrats want the CLARITY Act to include language that would prevent government officials from capitalizing on the crypto industry while in office.
According to a financial disclosure released in June, Trump made more than $1.1 billion last year from crypto-related projects.
“This is the most brazen act of self-dealing our financial system has ever seen,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said in a social media post Friday response to the OCC’s approval. “I’m introducing a bill to stop this kind of unprecedented corruption.”
The OCC’s approval also comes amid a wave of new banking charters from the regulator, including those issued to crypto companies.
“The OCC is open for business again,” Comptroller Jonathan Gould told the House Financial Services Committee in June. “The agency received as many applications in 2025 alone as it did in the previous four years.”
The OCC said last week that it is continuing efforts to reinvigorate de novo chartering for banks after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said it was taking similar measures.
The regulator noted that in the years between 2011 and 2024, there were three years in which it received no charter applications. Now, it is often making decisions on charter applications within 120 days of receipt.
“De novo chartering is a sign of a healthy banking system,” Gould said in a news release. “The FDIC’s new process to review deposit insurance applications aligns with the OCC’s efforts to reverse the decline in de novo chartering by providing a clear and transparent application process that encourages new entrants to the banking system — which drive innovation and expand consumer choice.”
