World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s largest cryptocurrency venture, announced it has applied for a national banking license in the United States.
World Liberty Trust, a subsidiary of the company, submitted its de novo banking application to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) of the U.S. Treasury Department. The OCC is known as the agency responsible for licensing, regulating, and supervising all national banks in the United States.
A potential banking license would allow World Liberty Trust to issue and hold USD1, its dollar-backed stablecoin launched last year. USD1, currently held in reserve by BitGo, has a market capitalization of $3.4 billion. A significant portion of this value was generated when USD1 tokens were used by a third-party investor to purchase $2 billion worth of shares in Binance.
World Liberty’s application comes after the Trump administration approved bank licenses for major crypto companies such as Fidelity Digital Assets, Circle Internet Group, Ripple, and Paxos in December.
Trust banks, unlike full-scale banks, cannot accept deposits or extend loans. Nevertheless, banking lobbies argue that the proliferation of trust charters could increase systemic risks and undermine the credibility of banking licenses.
World Liberty Trust plans to offer crypto custody and stablecoin conversion services over time, focusing particularly on institutional clients such as crypto exchanges, market makers, and investment firms.
World Liberty was launched in late 2024 with the support of President Donald Trump and promoted as a decentralized finance (DeFi) project. However, the promised lending, borrowing, and trading features have not yet been implemented.
*This is not investment advice.
