The Trump administration's crypto project has secured a national trust bank license from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), marking a significant moment in how the White House is reshaping digital asset regulation. World Liberty Financial (WLF), which is 38% owned by a Trump-linked entity, received conditional approval on August 14 for World Liberty Trust Company, National Association (Bank), a subsidiary based in Bay Harbor Islands, Florida. The approval comes as the White House is simultaneously organizing its own cryptocurrency regulatory meetings, signaling a shift in how the administration is handling digital asset policy outside traditional agency channels.

What Is World Liberty Financial's New Bank License For?

WLF sought the bank license primarily to gain greater control over USD1, a dollar-backed stablecoin that the company launched in March 2025. A stablecoin is a cryptocurrency designed to maintain a stable value by being backed by reserves of real assets, typically US dollars. Currently, WLF pays a third party, BitGo, to issue the token and custody the reserve assets backing the approximately $4 billion in circulating USD1.

By obtaining its own bank charter, WLF aims to bring USD1 issuance, custody, and reserve management under direct OCC supervision. Zach Witkoff, CEO of WLF and son of Trump's presidential envoy Steve Witkoff, stated that the bank license represents an important step forward for the project. The board of the new bank includes Witkoff, Scott Alper (president and chief information officer of Witkoff Group), Robert Witkoff (Steve Witkoff's brother and former co-chief information officer of The Chubb Corporation), Jeffrey Weiner (former chair and CEO of accounting firm Marcum LLP), and Erin Baskett (founder of Sine Qua Non Capital and former member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) board of governors).

Why Are Regulators and Critics Raising Red Flags?

The OCC's approval letter explicitly acknowledged concerns about potential conflicts of interest, given that an entity partially owned and controlled by the president and members of his family received the license. The letter also noted fears that WLF could receive preferential treatment due to OCC chief Jonathan Gould being a Trump appointee. However, the OCC dismissed these concerns, stating that Gould and OCC staff "acted consistently with their statutory duties and ethical obligations" in reviewing the application.

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) was quick to challenge the approval. Warren called the decision "the most brazen act of self-dealing our financial system has ever seen" and immediately introduced draft legislation called the Ending Presidential Corruption in Banking Act. The bill would prohibit the OCC and other federal banking oversight agencies from issuing licenses to entities owned or controlled by a president, vice president, spouses and children of these individuals, members of Congress, federal appointees, or "special Government employees." Ten other Senate Democrats may have signed on as co-sponsors, though the bill faces virtually no chance of passage in the current Congress.

How Is the White House Reshaping Crypto Regulation?

Beyond the WLF bank license, the White House is taking a more direct role in shaping crypto policy. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) abruptly cancelled a hotly anticipated meeting on "Reg Crypto" scheduled for August 14, citing an "unforeseen scheduling issue." The meeting was supposed to advance the SEC's plan for "a tailored offering regime for certain investment contracts involving crypto assets," including a long-promised innovation exemption for various crypto projects like tokenizing equities and enabling 24/7 blockchain-based stock trades.

Sources told CoinDesk that concerns within the White House sparked the cancellation, with some individuals reportedly uneasy about the SEC moving forward while the Senate's digital asset market structure legislation, known as the CLARITY Act, awaits a September 15 cloture vote. Democratic senators had warned of pushback if the SEC attempted to bypass Congress as negotiations on CLARITY's key issues continued.

In place of the SEC meeting, the White House is hosting its own cryptocurrency event on August 19. Politico and Semafor reported that top executives from the cryptocurrency and prediction market industries will attend, alongside traditional finance leaders. President Donald Trump is expected to deliver remarks at the event. White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins, and Michael Selig, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), will also be in attendance.

The White House meeting is described as a "small-group kick-off" for the CFTC's inaugural Innovation Committee meeting, which takes place on August 20. The CFTC meeting, titled "New Frontier of Finance," will be livestreamed on CFTC.gov and will feature sessions on "Crypto's Regulatory Evolution: From Uncertainty to Clarity," "Artificial Intelligence: Preparing for Intelligent Markets," and "Prediction Markets: Innovation, Jurisdiction, and the Future of Event Contracts".

Steps to Understanding the Regulatory Shift Underway

• White House Coordination: The administration is organizing direct meetings between crypto industry leaders and top regulators, bypassing traditional agency-led processes and signaling a more hands-on approach to digital asset policy.
• SEC Delays: The SEC's cancellation of its Reg Crypto meeting suggests internal pressure from the White House to pause unilateral regulatory action until Congress completes work on the CLARITY Act.
• CFTC Expansion: The CFTC is establishing an Innovation Committee and hosting a major conference, positioning itself as a key player in shaping crypto and prediction market regulation alongside the SEC.
• Stablecoin Control: WLF's bank license approval allows the company to directly manage stablecoin issuance and reserves, reducing reliance on third-party custodians and potentially setting a precedent for how crypto projects can integrate with traditional banking infrastructure.

What Other Regulatory Changes Are Happening?

The approval of WLF's bank license came just days after another significant regulatory development. The Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced that it would "permanently remove the requirement for U.S. companies and U.S. persons to report beneficial ownership information to FinCEN under the Corporate Transparency Act." FinCEN also stated that it "will delete previously reported information by U.S. persons, now exempt from the reporting requirements, from the beneficial ownership information database".

This move drew criticism from observers who noted the timing, as it removes transparency requirements just as WLF, an entity with significant presidential family involvement, secured a banking license. The combination of these regulatory actions suggests a broader shift in how the Trump administration is approaching financial transparency and crypto oversight.

The convergence of WLF's bank license approval, the SEC's meeting cancellation, and the White House's direct involvement in regulatory coordination indicates that crypto policy is being shaped through executive channels rather than through traditional agency processes. Whether this approach will accelerate or complicate the path to comprehensive crypto regulation remains unclear, but it signals a fundamental change in how the administration is managing digital asset policy.