Trump-backed World Liberty Financial seeks US trust charters

Trump-backed DeFi protocol World Liberty Financial has applied for a US national trust bank charter to fully onshore its USD1 stablecoin operations.

The company said WLTC Holdings LLC submitted a de novo application to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish World Liberty Trust Company, National Association.

The proposed charter would allow the group to issue, redeem, custody and convert USD1 under a single federally regulated entity.

This application marks a further evolution of the WLFI ecosystem.

World Liberty co-founder Zach Witkoff said.

He added that USD1 has seen rapid adoption for cross-border payments, settlement and treasury operations, and that a national charter would support institutional use.

The trust company plans to focus on institutional clients such as crypto exchanges, market makers and investment firms.

USD1 is backed by US dollars and short-duration US Treasurys held at regulated institutions and has surpassed $3.3 billion in circulation.

The move follows the OCC’s earlier conditional approvals for firms including Circle, Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets and Paxos.

World Liberty was launched in October 2024 and lists President Donald Trump and his sons as co-founders.

At the time of reporting, World Liberty Financial price was $0.1667.