Trump Crypto Firm Gets Bank Charter

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted World Liberty Financial — a crypto venture linked to the Trump family and the Witkoff group — a conditional national bank charter, per the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Politico and multiple other outlets. Coverage put the firm's stablecoin at approximately $4 billion and described the charter as preliminary and conditional rather than final. The approval was granted by a Trump-appointed OCC official, per coverage.

Update, Aug 18: the OCC's decision document (Corporate Decision #1385) details the conditions — at least $20M capital, a qualified internal audit manager, investor passivity agreements, GENIUS Act compliance — and confirms the bank would acquire USD1's reserves from BitGo under Regulation W's standing exemption for newly formed banks (12 CFR 223.42(i)), with the OCC noting the transfer could otherwise be a covered affiliate transaction. A Trump-affiliated entity holds about 38% of World Liberty, per the company. The trust charter permits no deposits or lending; Circle's path from conditional to final approval took roughly seven months.