World Liberty Financial’s bid for a U.S. bank charter raises new questions about Trump’s crypto conflicts

Leo here, back from paternity leave and ready to write about my favorite subject: the First Family’s forays into blockchain. After endless complaints of persecution under the Biden administration, the crypto industry found a steadfast ally in President Trump, in no small part thanks to its hefty warchest of campaign donations. But the Trump family realized that the sector’s riches extended beyond paltry Super PAC contributions. The Trumps launched their own crypto projects, from memecoins to mining operations to a nebulous platform called World Liberty Financial that promises to pave the future of finance through products like its stablecoin USD1. 

While crypto proponents would contend that the rise of stablecoins, tokenization, or decentralized exchanges were the most consequential development of 2025, it’s hard to argue that the Trump family’s entanglement in the blockchain industry, especially as it seeks to transform the plumbing of the global financial system, is not the prevailing storyline. 

While the Trumps and their supporters have maintained that the First Family’s work in crypto brings an entrepreneurial spirit to the White House, rather than a blatant conflict of interest, their latest gambit pushes the boundary like never before (and that’s including Trump inviting the top holders of his memecoin to a private dinner at his Virginia golf club). Last week, World Liberty Financial announced that it had applied for a national banking license with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, weeks after a bevy of crypto companies including Circle, Ripple, and Paxos received their own conditional approval from the financial regulator. 

The news flew mostly under the radar, in part because of the esoteric nature of the OCC. But the charters offer crucial advantages to fintech companies, such as the ability to hold assets on behalf of clients and issue stablecoins, as well as the ability to apply for a Federal Reserve master account and gain access to crucial payment rails including Fedwire and ACH. (A Fed governor has proposed “skinny” accounts for fintechs that would focus specifically on payments.) After the Biden administration effectively killed any hope of offering banking charters to fintechs and crypto companies, Trump opened the agency back for business—and began issuing approvals at a breakneck speed.

Back in August, banking law professor Todd Phillips wrote an illuminating paper on how the Trump family’s push into stablecoins, combined with the OCC’s newfound importance for crypto companies, created a massive potential for conflicts of interest. At the time, World Liberty Financial worked with a partner, the crypto firm BitGo, to issue its USD1 stablecoin, with BitGo applying for an OCC charter (for which it later received conditional approval). Phillips described the president engaging in business enterprises strictly regulated by his own administration as a “chilling dynamic.” The famous Spiderman meme, where the friendly neighborhood web-crawler points at versions of himself, would also suffice. 

But by applying for its own bank charter, World Liberty removed the last flimsy intermediary separating its regulatory goals from the Trump administration’s oversight. World Liberty cofounder and CEO Zach Witkoff told the Wall Street Journal that the company had structured its new trust entity “intentionally” to avoid conflicts of interest, including President Trump and his family members not serving as executives or exercising day-to-day control. 

But as Phillips wrote in his paper, what does it mean for a company tied to the president to apply for a license from a federal agency under the president’s authority? What happens if the OCC refuses—or grants a license without the proper vetting? Phillips argues that the implications go further than the company itself, with potential contagion to the financial system more broadly if the OCC fails to adequately enforce the law. 

It’s the first half of January, and we’re already entering uncharted territory. Gear up for an exciting 2026. 

Leo Schwartz
X: @leomschwartz
Email: leo.schwartz@fortune.com

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This story was originally featured on Fortune.com