The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has conditionally cleared World Liberty Trust Company for a national trust charter, a step that would let the issuer of the USD1 stablecoin hold its own dollar reserves and handle minting in-house. The OCC, led by Comptroller Jonathan Gould, set conditions including a $20 million capital floor and advance notice of major business plan changes. Final approval would bring custody, settlement, and issuance under one roof for the coin, which ranks 23rd among crypto assets with a market cap near $4 billion.
The conditions attached
The charter isn't a full banking license. It prohibits retail deposits and lending, and the OCC requires a qualified internal audit manager before the bank opens. World Liberty Trust also has to give regulators a heads-up before any significant shift in its business model. The agency said career staff handled the review, and that Gould met his statutory duties and ethical obligations. Nonpolitical examiners will supervise the bank once it's operating.
Family ties and the political fight
Zach Witkoff, CEO of World Liberty Financial and son of special envoy Steve Witkoff, would chair the bank. Robert Witkoff and Scott Alper are proposed directors. Reuters estimates the Trump family has earned roughly $50 million from USD1 through June 2026, and World Liberty Financial had routed more than $1.6 billion to the president and his sons as of April. Congressional Democrats argue the approval creates a conflict because the OCC sits inside the Treasury Department with no bipartisan board to check a single appointee.
Who else holds charters
Circle won final OCC bank approval in July. Ripple and Crypto.com hold conditional trust charter approvals. Major lenders have weighed legal action over charters that give crypto firms federal standing without full bank supervision. The public version of World Liberty's application left out capital structure and business plan details, which Democrats had pressed to see unredacted.
World Liberty Trust still needs to satisfy the OCC's conditions, including the capital floor and audit manager requirement, before the charter becomes final. The agency hasn't said when it expects that to happen, and the unredacted application remains under wraps.
