President Donald Trump-backed World Liberty Financial announced Wednesday that it has applied for a U.S. national banking license to issue and custody its dollar-pegged World Liberty Financial USD (USD1) stablecoin.
A Federally-Regulated Stablecoin Bank?
The decentralized finance platform stated that its subsidiary, WLTC Holdings LLC, applied to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish World Liberty Trust Company, National Association, a banking entity designed for stablecoin operations.
The proposed trust company is designed to serve institutional clients, including cryptocurrency exchanges, market makers and investment firms. Besides issuing and redeeming the $2.8 billion-valued USD1, the trust will also provide digital asset custody and stablecoin conversion services, enabling holders of other stablecoins to convert into USD1.
The trust bank will be structured to comply with the GENIUS Act as well as anti-money laundering laws, added World Liberty Financial.
Eric Trump, co-founder of World Liberty Financial, reacted to the development with an emoji of a bald eagle, the national bird of the U.S.
World Liberty Follows Ripple
This development comes after Ripple (CRYPTO: XRP) received conditional OCC approval to charter Ripple National Trust Bank, although final approval is still pending.
Trump Family’s Crypto Fortune
The Trump family is deeply invested in World Liberty Financial, with the president listed as Co-Founder Emeritus, while his sons, Eric, Donald Trump Jr. and Barron Trump, serve as co-founders.
Entities linked to the family own nearly 22.5 billion World Liberty Financial tokens. At the current price of $0.1709 per token, this stake values their holdings at $3.84 billion.
That said, the family’s involvement in the cryptocurrency industry has stirred controversy. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) criticized the Trump family’s financial gains from the WLFI token, labeling it as “plain and simple” corruption.
TD Cowen warned that the Trump family’s ties with the industry could delay the crypto market structure bill. Democrats want provisions barring senior government officials and their families, including Trump, from owning or operating cryptocurrency businesses.
Price Action: At the time of writing, WLFI was exchanging hands at $0.1709, down 0.70% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Photo courtesy: Maxim Elramsisy / Shutterstock.com
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