World Liberty Financial Wins Preliminary Approval for US Trust Bank
World Liberty Financial, the cryptocurrency venture backed by President Donald Trump and members of his family, has received preliminary conditional approval from a U.S. banking regulator to establish a national trust bank focused on its USD1 stablecoin operations.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency approved the application for World Liberty Trust Company, National Association, on August 14. The proposed institution would be based in Bay Harbor Islands, Florida, and operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of WLTC Holdings LLC.
The approval is an important step, but World Liberty does not yet have final permission to begin operating the bank. The OCC said the company must satisfy a series of pre-opening conditions before receiving final authorisation.
If those requirements are completed, World Liberty Trust would be able to issue and redeem the company’s USD1 stablecoin directly, maintain the reserves backing it and provide digital-asset custody services to institutional clients. Those functions are currently handled partly through BitGo.
The proposed institution would be a national trust bank, not a conventional retail bank. It generally would not take ordinary consumer deposits or offer traditional lending services. Instead, its business would centre on stablecoins, custody and related asset services.
World Liberty welcomed the decision, describing the preliminary approval as a milestone in a broader effort to bring USD1 issuance, custody and reserve management under direct federal supervision. Company president Zach Witkoff also acknowledged that additional regulatory steps must be completed before the bank can open.
USD1 has grown rapidly since its introduction in 2025. Reuters reports that the dollar-backed token currently has a market capitalisation of about , making it the fourth-largest stablecoin.
