OCC grants World Liberty Trust conditional preliminary bank charter approval

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has granted conditional preliminary approval for a national trust bank charter to World Liberty Trust Company, a firm tied to former President Donald Trump’s World Liberty Financial venture. The approval, handed down on August 15, effectively gives a crypto operation with direct links to a former (and potentially future) president the federal regulatory stamp needed to issue and custody a dollar-backed stablecoin.

The charter authorizes World Liberty Trust to handle direct issuance and custody of its USD1 stablecoin, along with asset management and payment settlement services for institutional clients. It does not, however, permit traditional banking activities like taking deposits or making loans.

The application and the appointee

World Liberty Trust filed its application with the OCC between January 5 and 7, 2026. Roughly seven months later, OCC Comptroller Jonathan Gould signed off on the conditional preliminary approval.

Gould is a Trump appointee. The firm he just approved is co-founded by Trump’s sons, who are listed as co-founders of the broader World Liberty Financial operation.

Senator Elizabeth Warren has already flagged concerns about the arrangement. The core objection is straightforward: a regulator appointed by a former president is now greenlighting a banking charter for a company that former president’s family co-founded.

To be fair, the OCC under Gould hasn’t reserved this treatment exclusively for Trump-adjacent ventures. The agency issued conditional approvals for Ripple, Circle, and Paxos in late 2025, establishing a pattern of welcoming crypto firms into the national banking framework. World Liberty Trust is the latest beneficiary of that trend, not the sole one.

What the charter actually allows

For World Liberty Trust, the charter opens the door to three core activities. First, direct issuance of USD1, its dollar-backed stablecoin. Second, custody services for digital assets. Third, payment settlement services aimed at institutional players like exchanges and investment firms.

The “conditional” and “preliminary” qualifiers matter here. This isn’t a final green light. The company still needs to meet certain requirements before it can fully operate under the charter.

What it cannot do is equally important. No deposit-taking. No lending. The charter keeps World Liberty Trust firmly in the stablecoin-and-custody lane.

The stablecoin race heats up

The OCC’s willingness to charter crypto-native firms — four conditional approvals in under a year — represents a genuine shift in how Washington treats digital asset companies. Under Gould, the agency has become arguably the most welcoming federal banking regulator for crypto firms.

Under Jonathan Gould’s leadership, the OCC’s policies have evolved to create a more favorable environment for cryptocurrency ventures, shortening the timelines for charter approvals and relaxing the criteria for trust bank licenses. National trust charters provide a centralized federal framework conducive to managing custody, asset services, and stablecoin operations, allowing firms to avoid the complexities of operating under varying state regulations.

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