Trump's crypto company World Liberty (WLFI.US) applies for a banking license to expand its $3 billion stablecoin business

Zhitongcaijing · 01/08 02:41

The Zhitong Finance App learned that World Liberty Financial (WLFI.US), a crypto company co-founded by US President Donald Trump, is applying for a Bank of America license for one of its entities. This move will help it expand its USD1 stablecoin business with a market capitalization of 3 billion US dollars.

World Liberty issued a statement on Wednesday saying that its subsidiary, WLTC Holdings LLC, has submitted a new application to the US Monetary Authority to establish a national trust bank dedicated to providing stablecoin services — World Liberty Trust.

World Liberty has become the latest crypto company to apply for a banking license, a move that has alerted traditional financial institutions. Traditional banks believe this is an attempt by crypto companies to gain federal legitimacy without assuming all of the regulatory obligations of national banks. By applying for a trust license with a clear scope, digital asset companies are testing the boundaries of financial regulation.

Last year, crypto exchange Coinbase Global Inc. submitted a banking license application; while the Office of Monetary Affairs (OCC) announced that it had conditionally approved license applications from five companies, including Ripple, Paxos, and BitGo.

World Liberty listed Trump as an “honorary co-founder” on its official website. The company was funded through the sale of WLFI tokens, which were initially designed as non-transferable governance tokens and later converted to tradable tokens. According to tracking agency CoinGecko, the market value of its stablecoin USD1 (once used by a fund to invest in the cryptocurrency exchange Binance) has reached 3.4 billion US dollars.

The company said that if approved, World Liberty Trust will be able to provide services to institutional customers such as crypto exchanges, while also providing digital asset escrow and stablecoin conversion services, so that other stablecoin holders can convert their assets to USD1.

World Liberty co-founder Zach Witkoff said in a statement to Bloomberg: “A national trust license provides a clear federal regulatory framework for escrow, reserve management, and trust supervision. In the long run, this will help attract more direct agency participation, enhance consumer protection, and be more widely used in regulated payment settlement flows — all of which, of course, require regulatory approval.”

Trump has been promoting a policy agenda friendly to the crypto industry, and recently signed a bill to regulate dollar-backed stablecoins.