Wold Liberty financial is a crypto platform that was co-founded by President Donald Trump and his family. Warren urged the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to pause its review until Trump divests from the company, and warned that current stablecoin regulations fail to prevent presidential influence over agencies tasked with overseeing businesses linked to the president himself.
Trump Crypto Bank Bid Draws Scrutiny
US Senator Elizabeth Warren urged federal banking regulators to delay action on a bank charter application tied to a crypto platform co-founded by Donald Trump and his family. In a letter sent on Tuesday to Jonathan Gould, the Comptroller of the Currency, Warren called on the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to pause consideration of World Liberty Financial’s application until Trump fully divests any personal or familial financial stake in the company.
Part of Warren’s letter to the OCC
Warren argued that the situation presents an unprecedented conflict of interest, and warned that the regulatory framework established by recent legislation failed to adequately address ethical safeguards. She said the GENIUS Act, which was signed into law last year and designated the OCC as the primary regulator of stablecoin issuers, did not resolve concerns about presidential influence over agencies that would oversee businesses connected to the president himself. According to Warren, this leaves Congress — particularly the Senate — with a responsibility to confront what she described as “real and serious conflicts of interest.”
The concerns center on a filing that was made earlier this month by WLTC Holdings, a subsidiary of World Liberty Financial, which applied for a national trust bank charter. Approval would allow the company to issue, custody, and convert its USD1 stablecoin under federal supervision.
Trump and his sons Barron, Eric, and Donald Trump Jr. are listed as co-founders of the platform, which reportedly generated billions of dollars in paper wealth for the family. Warren argued that this financial connection fundamentally complicates the OCC’s ability to act as an impartial regulator.
In her letter, Warren said she has “no confidence” that Gould will fairly assess the application, due to his prior responses to questions about safeguarding the OCC from presidential influence. She warned that the comptroller will be responsible for writing rules that could directly affect World Liberty’s profitability while also enforcing compliance against the firm and its competitors — all while serving at the pleasure of the president. In Warren’s view, this creates a scenario in which a sitting US president could effectively oversee a financial company in which he has a personal stake.
