Trump Family-Backed WLFI Reportedly Set for National Trust Bank Charter to Issue USD1 Independently

World Liberty Financial, the crypto venture linked to President Donald Trump’s family, has expanded from decentralized finance into dollar-backed payments through USD1. Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al Nahyan, the UAE national security adviser and brother of the country’s president, has become a pivotal foreign backer. His network invested $500 million for 49% of WLFI in January 2025, with about $187 million flowing to Trump-family entities, intensifying conflict-of-interest and national-security scrutiny in Washington.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Aug. 27 that Sheikh Tahnoon and co-investors hold 49% of WLTC Holdings, the parent of World Liberty Trust Company, through StringZ Holding RSC, making them the banking venture’s largest shareholder. The OCC granted WLTC preliminary conditional approval on Aug. 14 to organize a national trust bank. The lender plans to issue, redeem and custody USD1, which has more than $4 billion in circulation, but must meet pre-opening conditions and secure final regulatory approval before commencing operations.

World Liberty Financial, the crypto venture backed by U.S. President Donald Trump’s family, has positioned USD1 as a fully reserved, dollar-pegged token for payments and institutional finance. BitGo manages the reserves and handles minting and redemptions. With a market capitalization of about $4.05 billion, USD1 ranks as the world’s sixth-largest stablecoin, making its expansion onto institutional blockchain infrastructure significant for broader adoption.

World Liberty Financial said on Aug. 25, 2026, that USD1 had been issued natively on Canton Network, a blockchain built for regulated financial markets. Institutions can use the token as the cash leg for settling tokenized real-world assets, as collateral for derivatives and in institutional lending transactions. The integration is designed to pair dollar settlement with Canton’s privacy controls and atomic settlement capabilities, reducing friction when assets and payments move onchain.

World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture launched in 2024 and backed by President Donald Trump’s family, introduced the dollar-pegged USD1 stablecoin in 2025. A national trust bank charter would bring its stablecoin issuance, redemption, reserve custody and digital-asset fiduciary services under federal supervision. Unlike a conventional commercial bank, however, the proposed institution would not take ordinary deposits or offer checking accounts, and its products would not carry Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. coverage.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted preliminary conditional approval on Aug. 14, 2026, for World Liberty Trust Company, N.A. to become a federally chartered trust bank. The company must still meet the OCC’s capital, governance and risk-management conditions before opening. Once operational, the bank plans to assume USD1 issuance and reserve custody functions currently handled by BitGo. World Liberty said USD1 had more than $3.3 billion in circulation when it filed its charter application in January 2026.

World Liberty Financial (WLFI) is a cryptocurrency venture involving the Trump family, and its USD1 stablecoin is pegged one-to-one to the U.S. dollar. Its involvement in UFC Freedom 250 takes USD1 beyond trading markets and into athlete bonuses, while bringing renewed scrutiny to the boundary between private commercial interests and events held at the White House.

UFC Freedom 250 was held on the White House South Lawn on June 14, 2026, coinciding with Trump’s 80th birthday. WLFI served as presenting sponsor and provided a $250,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus pool paid in USD1. Crypto.com separately established a $1 million CRO bonus pool, while Polymarket and other crypto companies also gained exposure at the event.

USD1 was launched in March 2025 by World Liberty Financial, the decentralized finance protocol backed by the Trump family, with digital-asset custodian BitGo safeguarding its dollar reserves. The stablecoin links the Trump political brand with stablecoin payments and traditional finance. It has also become a closely watched case at the intersection of politics and business because the family's interests overlap with its influence on U.S. policy.

In May 2025, Abu Dhabi investment firm MGX used $2 billion in USD1 to complete its investment in Binance, providing a key boost to the stablecoin's circulating supply. By July 2026, USD1's market capitalization had reached $4.6 billion, representing nearly tenfold growth in about a year. World Liberty Financial is also expanding access to regulated custody and mainstream financial channels through its partnerships with BitGo and Binance and its application for a banking license.

World Liberty Financial is a Trump family-backed DeFi project that uses WLFI as its governance token and USD1 as its dollar stablecoin. As of February 26, 2026, USD1 had a market capitalization of about $4.7 billion, ranking fifth. The proposal links voting power and staking rewards to stablecoin usage, with implications for the concentration of governance and USD1’s expansion.

WLFI introduced the proposal on February 25, 2026, requiring unlocked tokens to be staked for at least 180 days. Participants who vote at least twice during that period could earn a target annualized reward of 2%, while USD1 deposited in WLFI Markets would qualify for Dolomite incentives. The proposal passed on March 13 with 99.12% support and about 1,800 participants, although 10 wallets controlled 76% of the voting power. The highest tier required staking 50 million WLFI tokens, worth about $5 million at the time.

World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a DeFi project backed by the Trump family, previously partnered with AB DAO/AB Network, which has been accused of links to a network associated with Cambodia's Prince Group. After the United States and Britain sanctioned Prince Group members, attention turned to WLFI's partner screening, controls over sources of funds and corporate governance.

The United States and Britain jointly sanctioned individuals and entities linked to Prince Group on October 14, 2025. U.S. authorities also seized approximately 127,271 bitcoin, worth about $15 billion at the time. WLFI said it had completed due diligence before the partnership but did not disclose the value of the arrangement, review documents or the date it ended the relationship. WLFI itself is not currently under sanctions.

World Liberty Financial, or WLFI, is a DeFi project backed by the Trump family whose USD1 stablecoin aims to maintain a peg of $1 per token. The close association between a political family’s brand and crypto finance has drawn scrutiny of account security, reserve transparency and market confidence.

The project recently faced a coordinated attack in which hackers compromised a founder’s account to spread panic while taking short positions, briefly pushing USD1 down to $0.9942. The project said funds were safe and its stabilization mechanism was functioning normally. As of July 20, 2026, USD1 had regained its peg, though the WLFI governance token remained under downward pressure.

USD1 is a U.S. dollar stablecoin issued by Trump family-backed World Liberty Financial (WLFI) in partnership with custodian BitGo. It is backed 1:1 by U.S. dollar deposits, short-term U.S. Treasuries and cash equivalents, with Crowe reviewing its reserves monthly. The token has a market capitalization of about $5 billion, making the depeg a test of market confidence in its reserves and redemption mechanism.

On February 23, 2026, WLFI said the X accounts of several co-founders had been compromised. The attackers also paid to spread fear, uncertainty and doubt, or FUD, while heavily shorting the WLFI token. USD1 briefly fell to $0.9802 on Binance before returning close to $1 within about 30 minutes. The team issued two clarifications that its contracts, wallets and reserves had not been hacked and that 1:1 minting and redemption continued to operate normally.

World Liberty Financial is a crypto-finance company backed by U.S. President Donald Trump and his sons. Its USD1 stablecoin is fully backed 1:1 by U.S. dollar assets and uses minting and redemption mechanisms to maintain its $1 price. Stablecoins are an important dollar substitute for crypto trading and fund transfers, and even a brief depeg can test reserve transparency and market confidence.

World Liberty Financial said on X on February 23, 2026, that hackers targeted the accounts of several WLFI co-founders, short sellers built large positions and paid influencers spread panic. The company said WLFI fell about 7% at one point and was trading at $0.1128 when the report was published. USD1 dropped to about $0.994 before recovering to above $0.999.