A trust company affiliated with the Trump family's crypto business, World Liberty Financial, has received conditional approval to establish a bank.

The Treasury Department's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) on Friday granted preliminary approval to World Liberty Trust Company to establish a bank charter, a move that would allow it to issue and manage its own stablecoins without relying on a middleman.

The trust company is linked to World Liberty Financial, which President Trump's sons founded in 2024 alongside the sons of Steve Witkoff, the Trump administration's special envoy to the Middle East. World Liberty Financial is 38% owned by "an entity affiliated with Donald J. Trump and certain of his family members," according to the company's website.

The plan has ignited criticism from Democrats, who say granting bank status to a business affiliated with the Trump family presents a conflict of interest. 

"This creates the awkward situation of the OCC needing to police World Liberty, which has an affiliation with the president's family," said Austin Campbell, a professor at New York University's Stern School of Business. "It is pretty unprecedented."

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, called the move a "brazen act of self-dealing." On Saturday, she and a group of Democratic senators said they would introduce a bill to prevent the president, vice president and their family members from "owning or controlling a bank."

World Liberty insists that firewalls have been established to prevent the family from playing a role in the bank while Mr. Trump is in office.

Reached for comment, a spokesperson for World Liberty said its trust company's national charter "will ensure robust and permanent regulatory supervision from the OCC, a federal banking regulator, that will outlast the Trump administration."

"Critics are missing the point: World Liberty Financial is running towards regulation and continuous oversight, not away from it," the spokesperson said.

The White House and Trump Organization did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Crypto has been an extremely lucrative business for the president, with financial disclosures showing that he made at least $1.4 billion on crypto ventures alone last year. While Mr. Trump hosted a gala last year with top investors for his cryptocurrency business, he has said he is not involved in its day-to-day operations.

World Liberty's trust company would still need to meet several requirements before it is granted final approval to become a bank.

Edited by Aimee Picchi

In:

• Cryptocurrency