The Trump family’s pathway to opening a bank through its cryptocurrency investments is sending shockwaves, according to reporting by the Wall Street Journal.
A trust company for World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s flagship crypto venture, has preliminary conditional approval to become a bank, The Journal reported. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a Treasury bureau, gave the early preliminary approval on Friday.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) wrote in a statement that “we have never seen financial conflicts or corruption of this magnitude.” President Donald Trump and his two sons launched World Liberty in late 2024 but have not yet made available promised borrowing, lending, and trading services, according to The Journal.
If World Liberty Trust secures final approval, it will be able to operate as a federally chartered national trust bank, which will allow it to issue, redeem, and safeguard a dollar-backed stablecoin it launched last year, The Journal reported. The stablecoin has a market value of about $4 billion, according to The Journal.
Unlike full banks, trust banks generally can’t take deposits or make loans, The Journal reported. However, Trump has reported $1.4 billion in earnings from his memecoin and crypto ventures. The Journal noted that those earnings are “the biggest roadblock” for the Clarity Act, a landmark bill seeking a comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets.
The White House has previously defended Trump’s financial ventures as president, saying “neither the President nor his family has ever engaged—or will ever engage—in conflicts of interest,” according to The Journal.
Zach Witkoff, the son of the president’s friend and Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, is the chief executive of World Liberty Financial and chairman of World Liberty Trust Company. The company said it submitted “probably one of the most thoroughly reviewed applications in the history of the OCC” to become a bank, according to The Journal.
“We answered all of the regulator’s questions, and we accepted the significant obligations and ongoing scrutiny that come with the national charter,” Zach Witkoff said in an interview, per The Journal. “If we were looking for less oversight, we would not have chosen federal supervision.”
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