Senate Democrats Back Bill to Block Trump-Linked Crypto Charters
World Liberty Financial is a crypto venture partly owned through a Trump family-linked entity, which holds a 38% stake. Its affiliate, World Liberty Trust Co., seeks to issue and manage the USD1 stablecoin under a national trust bank charter. The application has become a test of regulatory independence because the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is led by a presidential appointee, while Donald Trump’s latest disclosure reported about $1.1 billion in crypto income, including $515 million from World Liberty token sales.
On Aug. 14, 2026, the OCC granted World Liberty Trust conditional approval to establish a national trust bank. Before opening, the company must raise $20 million in Tier 1 capital and maintain $10 million in liquid assets. Democratic senators involved in crypto market-structure negotiations have since backed a separate bill that would bar federal regulators from approving bank or trust charter applications involving entities in which a sitting president has a financial interest.
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The history behind this eventU.S. Senate Democrats Call for Probe Into Trump’s Crypto Ties
The U.S. Senate is considering the CLARITY Act, a digital asset market structure bill that would define the regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies and is viewed as the culmination of years of industry lobbying. President Donald Trump’s family is deeply involved in crypto ventures, including World Liberty Financial and the $TRUMP memecoin. Democratic lawmakers question whether Trump’s substantial crypto earnings could influence the direction of the legislation, making presidential conflicts of interest the biggest political issue ahead of the vote.
Five Democratic senators jointly called on relevant Senate committees to hold hearings into the national security and conflict-of-interest risks surrounding Trump’s crypto holdings. Senator Elizabeth Warren said the Trump family had made about $1.2 billion from crypto ventures and pushed an ethics amendment that would prohibit federal officials from using digital assets for private gain. The amendment has brought bipartisan negotiations over the CLARITY Act to a standstill, while some Democratic senators have publicly opposed the measure and called it a “corrupt” bill.
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