A Trump-appointed federal banking regulator granted a wing of the Trump family's cryptocurrency business conditional approval to establish a bank charter Friday, marking the first time in U.S. history that a company owned by a sitting president's family has received such status.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency approved World Liberty Trust Co., an organization that is 38 percent owned by an entity affiliated with Donald J. Trump and certain of his family members, according to its website. The approval allows the company to issue stablecoin cryptocurrency tied to the U.S. dollar, according to ABC News.
World Liberty Financial, the listed sponsor of the approved trust, had previously relied on a third-party crypto company called BitGo to provide a stable digital currency. Friday's decision allows the Trump family's business to cut out the middleman and provide the service directly. Clients would exchange U.S. dollars for the stablecoin, with profits going directly to the Trump family's crypto business.
Stablecoins are tied to more stable values such as the U.S. dollar or the price of gold, making them more attractive to large spenders than historically volatile digital currencies like Bitcoin. They can be marketed for use as a means of making payments, transmitting money, or storing value, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Trump family has already seen significant financial returns from the venture. The president's family secured around $5 billion in the company's first days after going public, based on the token's value at the time. Trump himself has made more than $1.4 billion in business revenue from his family's crypto ventures, according to his released financial disclosures. A state-backed Abu Dhabi investment firm, MGX, invested another $2 billion in the company in May 2025, committing to use the Trump family's USD1 stablecoin in large transactions with crypto exchange company Binance.
Democratic lawmakers raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest following the decision. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly defended the arrangement. "President Trump's assets are in a trust managed by his children," Kelly said. "There are no conflicts of interest." Kelly has also maintained that the president only acts in the best interests of the American public. Critics have noted that a typical blind trust would operate with an independent trustee rather than family members.