Trump-Linked Crypto Trust Receives Preliminary Bank Charter Nod

What Just Happened

A crypto company with deep ties to the Trump family just got a big regulatory green light. That sounds bureaucratic, but it is a big deal for a few reasons.

First, the company's connection to the White House is hard to miss. World Liberty Financial, the company that sponsors the trust, says on its website that an entity tied to President Trump and some of his family members owns 38% of the business. The CEO of the trust company is Zach Witkoff, whose father, Steven Witkoff, serves as Trump's Middle East negotiator.

Second, the charter itself is permission to do something that could make a lot of money. It would allow World Liberty to issue stablecoins. Those are crypto coins that are supposed to stay pegged to a dollar, backed by low-risk assets like U.S. Treasurys.

Right now, a third-party company called BitGo handles part of that work. Doing it in-house would be much more profitable.

The approval is only conditional, meaning more steps remain before the process is complete. The company still needs to raise capital and meet other requirements.

How the Regulatory Landscape Shifted

The OCC has been a different agency under Trump than it was under Joe Biden. Since 2025, the OCC has logged 40 charter applications, according to agency data. That is a sharp increase from the previous administration, and many of those applications involve crypto companies.

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That shift is part of a broader push to make the U.S. friendlier to digital assets. But not everyone is on board. The Clarity Act, a crypto-regulation bill that would set rules for the industry, lacks support from some congressional Democrats. One reason: they say it does not do enough to stop the president from profiting personally from the crypto business.

Senator Elizabeth Warren has been vocal about that concern. She urged the OCC to deny World Liberty's application unless Trump gave up his stake in the company. She also said she and other lawmakers plan to offer a bill that would bar presidents and senior federal officials from owning or controlling a bank.

The OCC did not comment on the decision. But the agency says the review of bank-charter requests is handled entirely by career employees, not political appointees. That detail matters, because it suggests the approval followed standard procedure.

What the CEO and the Critics Are Saying

Zach Witkoff, the CEO of the trust company, issued a statement welcoming the regulatory attention. "We welcome continuous scrutiny from Federal regulators for many years to come," he said.

Senator Warren was not diplomatic. She said, "President Trump is now the first President in history to approve, operate, and supervise his own bank."

The bottom line: The political fight is just starting. But the regulatory process moved forward anyway.

What This Means for Your Portfolio

The question for investors is not whether this one company gets its charter. It is about what the trend says.

Stablecoins are becoming a bigger part of the financial system. They are used for payments, trading, and even as a way to earn yield on cash. If a company with close ties to the White House gets a bank charter to issue them, it signals that the government is serious about making crypto mainstream.

That could be good for the broader crypto market. It could also mean more competition in the stablecoin space, which might squeeze fees and margins for existing players. On the flip side, the political backlash could lead to new rules that slow things down. Senator Warren's planned bill is just one example.

For now, the approval is conditional. Nothing is final. But the fact that it happened at all tells you something about where the regulatory winds are blowing. Whether you own crypto or not, the rules that govern it are changing fast, and this is one of the biggest signals yet.

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