World Liberty Gets Conditional OCC Charter For USD1 Stablecoin
The OCC granted preliminary conditional approval for World Liberty Trust Company, giving the Trump-linked crypto venture a trust-bank path to issue and redeem USD1.
World Liberty Trust Company won preliminary conditional approval for a U.S. national trust bank charter, Decrypt reported, moving the Trump-linked crypto venture closer to issuing and redeeming the USD1 stablecoin under OCC supervision.
The proposed Florida institution would be based in Bay Harbor Islands.
Its sponsor is tied to World Liberty Financial, the crypto business associated with President Donald Trump and his family.
The approval gives the company a regulated trust-bank path, but the charter does not make it a deposit-taking bank.
OCC Approval Carries Trust-Bank Limits
World Liberty Trust Company plans to take over issuance and redemption of USD1 from BitGo, the current exclusive issuer and custodian.
The institution would also act as a fiduciary custodian for digital assets and would let custody clients exchange approved stablecoins for USD1.
The trust-bank model excludes several banking functions at the start.
World Liberty Trust Company will not take deposits, carry FDIC insurance or seek a Federal Reserve master account for now, and it committed to remain outside the Bank Holding Company Act definition of a bank.
The approval includes a $20 million minimum capital requirement and duties under the GENIUS Act, last year's stablecoin statute.
The institution has 18 months to open, turning the conditional approval into an execution deadline rather than an operating launch or immediate change for USD1 users.
Charter Review Drew Conflict Questions
Zachary Witkoff, one of World Liberty's co-founders, appears on the application record as organizer, director and president.
The review also drew comments about potential conflicts of interest involving the president, relatives, the Witkoff family and Emirati investors, along with questions tied to the Emoluments Clause.
The OCC treated those objections as outside the scope of its application review.
World Liberty Financial itself was not the applicant, and Eric Trump signed passivity commitments for one investing entity.
The decision places the applicant inside a broader digital-asset trust-charter wave.
Similar national trust charters already cover Circle, Ripple, Paxos, Fidelity and BitGo, while Sen. Elizabeth Warren has separately argued that crypto trust-charter approvals let firms function like banks without the safeguards attached to full bank status.
World Liberty's next test is procedural and operational.
The company has conditional approval, a capital floor and a stablecoin role to assume from BitGo; opening the trust bank within 18 months will determine whether USD1 moves from external issuance to the new chartered structure.
