World Liberty secures OCC charter, Clarity Act odds fall to 23.5%

The OCC's conditional green light for a Trump-affiliated crypto venture could reshape the Senate's crypto regulatory fight.

The OCC granted preliminary approval on Aug. 14 for World Liberty Trust to organize as a national trust bank, letting the Trump-linked crypto venture issue and redeem its USD1 stablecoin under federal oversight.

The approval caps a 221-day review that began when World Liberty Financial filed its application in January 2026. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and other Democrats previously pressed Comptroller Jonathan Gould over potential conflicts and foreign investment in the company, Reuters reported. The OCC said career staff conducted the review and that Gould and agency employees acted consistently with their statutory and ethical obligations.

If finalized, the charter would let World Liberty Trust directly issue, redeem, and custody USD1, which currently operates under BitGo's management. The stablecoin launched in March 2025, backed by cash, US Treasuries, and money-market funds, and has grown to roughly $4 billion in market capitalization, making it the fourth-largest stablecoin. It operates across Ethereum, Solana, and Tron. The trust company would not accept insured deposits or make loans, and must maintain at least $20 million in capital before opening.

The approval lands squarely in the middle of a Senate fight over the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, legislation designed to address conflicts of interest when public officials or their family members profit from crypto ventures. An entity affiliated with the Trump family holds a 38 percent ownership stake in World Liberty Financial. The CLARITY Act cleared the Senate Banking Committee but the Senate adjourned without a final vote, and market odds for its passage in 2026 have dropped to 23.5 percent.

What the charter actually allows

Zach Witkoff serves as CEO and chairman of the trust bank. He co-founded World Liberty Financial alongside Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., who helped establish the DeFi protocol and governance platform in 2024. The trust company would be headquartered in Bay Harbor Islands, Fla., and operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of WLTC Holdings LLC.

The OCC has seen an uptick in approvals for fintech and digital asset companies seeking national trust charters in 2026. For institutional investors, a stablecoin operated under OCC supervision carries a different risk profile than one managed by a private custodian, even a reputable one like BitGo. Federal oversight of reserve management means regular examinations, capital requirements, and a regulatory framework that pension funds and asset managers are already comfortable navigating.

The 38 percent problem

Opponents of the CLARITY Act can point to the OCC's rigorous review process as evidence that existing regulatory frameworks are sufficient. Supporters can argue the opposite: that the approval itself demonstrates why new guardrails are necessary.

The approval is preliminary and conditional. World Liberty Trust still needs to satisfy whatever requirements the OCC attached before the charter becomes final. Those conditions have not been publicly detailed, but they typically involve demonstrating adequate capitalization, governance structures, and compliance frameworks.

USD1 would operate with a level of regulatory backing that rivals like USDC and USDT don't currently possess, despite Circle's own banking relationships and Tether's various compliance efforts. A federally chartered trust bank issuing a stablecoin is a first-of-its-kind structure.

The legal environment around World Liberty Financial remains unsettled. Justin Sun, founder of Tron, has filed a fraud lawsuit against the company, accusing it of embedding a hidden backdoor in its WLFI governance token that allowed it to freeze nearly $1 billion of his holdings. A federal judge in California ruled that Sun's personal claims will remain in open federal court, rejecting the company's attempt to move the dispute to private arbitration.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.