OCC Approves Conditional Bank Charter for Trump Family Crypto Company

American regulators have granted a banking license to a President Donald Trump-affiliated cryptocurrency company.

The Office for the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued its preliminary conditional approval Friday (Aug. 14) for a national banking charter requested by World Liberty Financial (WLF), a company led in part by the president’s older sons.

WLF plans include “dollar-backed stablecoin issuance and redemption and reserve maintenance in a nonfiduciary capacity,” according to the OCC’s decision.

It will also provide “digital asset custody services as a fiduciary” as well as “conversion services for custody customers in connection with their custodied assets” but will not be permitted to issue loans or accept direct deposits.

The conditional approval is happening as the question of the president’s business interest has become a sticking point in adopting new crypto legislation. Democrats want the CLARITY Act to include language that would prevent government officials from capitalizing on the crypto industry while in office.

According to a financial disclosure released in June, Trump made more than $1.1 billion last year from crypto-related projects.

“This is the most brazen act of self-dealing our financial system has ever seen,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said in a social media post Friday response to the OCC’s approval. “I’m introducing a bill to stop this kind of unprecedented corruption.”