World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture backed by members of the family of U.S. President Donald Trump, is seeking to deepen its foothold in regulated finance by applying for a national trust bank charter focused on stablecoin activity. The company said its subsidiary WLTC Holdings has submitted a de novo application to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish a federally supervised trust bank. If approved, the institution would be responsible for issuing and safeguarding USD1, a dollar referenced stablecoin launched last year that the firm says has already surpassed $3.3 billion in circulation. The move reflects a growing push by crypto firms to operate within traditional regulatory frameworks as stablecoins gain wider use in payments, settlement, and treasury management. A national trust bank charter would allow World Liberty Financial to consolidate issuance, custody, and redemption services under direct federal oversight, marking a significant step in its expansion strategy.
USD1 is described by the company as fully backed by U.S. dollars held at regulated depository institutions, along with funds invested in short maturity U.S. Treasury instruments. The stablecoin currently operates across ten blockchain networks, including Ethereum, Solana, BNB Smart Chain, TRON, Aptos, and AB Core, and is positioned for use cases such as near instant cross border payments, tokenized settlement, and programmable enterprise payouts. By pursuing a trust bank structure, World Liberty Financial aims to offer institutional users greater regulatory clarity and operational assurance. National trust banks are permitted to provide custody and fiduciary services without engaging in traditional lending, a model that has become increasingly attractive to digital asset companies seeking compliance without becoming full service commercial banks.
The application would place World Liberty Financial in a regulatory category that has so far admitted only one crypto native firm, with Anchorage Digital remaining the sole holder of a national trust bank charter issued by the OCC. The company said the proposed trust bank is being designed to comply with the recently enacted GENIUS Act, which established a federal framework for stablecoin oversight, including requirements around reserve management and asset segregation. At launch, the firm plans to allow fee free conversions between U.S. dollars and USD1, a move aimed at encouraging adoption among institutions and enterprises. As stablecoins continue to play a larger role in global payments and digital finance, efforts to bring issuance and custody under direct federal supervision are becoming a defining trend in the evolving U.S. crypto landscape.
