Senator Warren Wants Trump To Cut WLFI Ties Before Banking Regulator Reviews Trust Bank Application

Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote a letter to the OCC asking the agency to delay the review of World Liberty Financial’s trust bank application.

• According to Warren, there’s a conflict of interest because the OCC directly oversees the approval of stablecoin-issuing entities and also serves at the discretion of the President.
• She stated that this dynamic essentially means the President would oversee his own financial company.
• The senator has asked for President Donald Trump to divest his holdings in the company because the review kicks off.

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) on Tuesday called U.S. banking regulators for a pause on Trump-backed World Liberty Financial’s (WLFI) application to set up a U.S. trust bank until President Donald Trump cuts his ties with the company.

In a letter to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Warren urged the agency to delay movement on the application for WLFI to operate a nationally chartered trust bank focused on stablecoin services. 

She recommended that the review shouldn’t even kick off until President Donald Trump divests from the company and eliminates all related financial ties. Moreover, she gave the OCC a deadline till January 20 to provide a confirmation that it will delay its review.

“For the first time in history, the President of the United States would be in charge of overseeing his own financial company.”

Elizabeth Warren, Democratic Senator, Massachusetts 

The WLFI token’s price rose 8.7% in the last 24 hours to $0.1832 amid a broader rally in the cryptocurrency market. Retail sentiment around the coin on Stocktwits rose to ‘extremely bullish’ from ‘bullish’ over the past day, accompanied by ‘high’ levels of chatter.

The Question Is No Longer Hypothetical

In her letter to the OCC, Warren said the agency shut down her earlier concerns about financial conflicts around WLFI because they were “hypothetical” and the subject was not under OCC oversight at the time.

However, after the passage of the GENIUS Act, stablecoin regulation now rests squarely with the agency, with the new rules slated to kick in on January 18. Given that change, Warren feels it’s appropriate to delay the review of WLFI’s application until Trump divests his stake so that there is no financial conflict. “We have never seen financial conflicts or corruption of this magnitude,” she said. 

If the application is not delayed, the OCC would end up being in charge of rules and regulations that could benefit a company the President has a stake in, directly impacting profits and losses. The same rules could also be used to influence the competition. Moreover, it would be doing so while serving at the discretion of the President.

Trump’s Link To WLFI

Launched in 2024, Trump is the “co-founder emeritus” and the chief crypto advocate at the firm. Trump’s sons, Eric and Donald Trump Jr., are co-founders and Web3 ambassadors as well. His third son, Barron, is a co-founder and “DeFi [decentralized finance] visionary”.

Trump’s close friend and the White House's special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, is also listed as a "co-founder emeritus."

Trump’s link to the crypto firm has raised many eyebrows, not just Warren’s. Democrats and those in the crypto industry have taken issue with the fact that Trump launched memecoins right before his confirmation as President, undermining the legitimacy of the broader market.

WLFI’s Stablecoin Push

WLFI’s launched its own stablecoin last year called USD1, which runs on Ethereum (ETH) and the Binance Smart Chain (BNB). It’s also available to trade on major exchanges like Coinbase and Kraken. Retail sentiment on Stocktwits around the stablecoin was in ‘extremely bullish’ territory with ‘extremely high’ levels of chatter over the past day.

Last week, WLFI filed an application for its subsidiary, World Liberty Trust Company (WLTC), to operate as a national trust bank. If approved, WLTC plans to focus on stablecoin operations. This includes redeeming and issuing USD1, offering conversion from other major stablecoins, providing custody services, and managing reserves that back WLFI’s stablecoin.

Approval would also place WLFI under the supervision of federal banking regulators, a step that could enhance its credibility with institutional clients and ease integration with U.S. financial infrastructure. 

Warren is the most senior Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, which is scheduled to markup its part of the crypto market structure bill on Thursday. 

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