World Liberty Financial, through its subsidiary WLTC Holdings LLC, has filed an application with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish a federally supervised national trust bank. The move is driven by the rapid growth of its USD1 stablecoin, whose circulation has exceeded $3.3 billion, primarily among institutional clients for cross-border payments, settlement, and treasury operations.
The proposed trust bank, to be named World Liberty Trust Company, aims to consolidate the issuance, custody, and conversion of USD1 under a single regulated entity. This would shift these services away from current third-party providers like BitGo. CEO Zach Witkoff stated that federal supervision would provide regulatory clarity and streamline core services for institutional customers, including cryptocurrency exchanges, market makers, and investment firms.
Under the proposed framework, the bank would offer three core services: stablecoin issuance, fiat on-ramp services, and digital asset custody. Notably, the minting and redemption of USD1, as well as conversions between U.S. dollars and USD1, would launch without fees. Custody services would extend to USD1 and other approved stablecoins, with customer assets kept segregated.
The company plans to operate in compliance with the GENIUS Act, the stablecoin regulatory framework signed into law by President Donald Trump last year. The compliance framework includes AML controls, sanctions screening, and advanced cybersecurity measures. Mack McCain, general counsel of World Liberty Financial, will serve as trust officer to oversee fiduciary operations.
World Liberty Financial has notable connections to former President Trump, who is listed as co-founder emeritus, with his three sons named as co-founders. A company spokesperson clarified that the proposed trust company is a separate entity with different ownership and operating structures, and the Trump family would not serve as executives or exercise day-to-day control, a design intended to avoid conflicts of interest.
The OCC has recently shown increased openness to crypto banking, granting conditional trust bank charters to Circle, Ripple, Fidelity Digital Assets, BitGo, and Paxos in December 2025. USD1 is currently fully backed by U.S. dollars and short-duration U.S. Treasury obligations and operates across 10 blockchain networks, including Ethereum, Solana, and TRON.
