FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Feb. 10, 2026
CONTACT: Jarice Thompson, jarice@ourfinancialsecurity.org
AFREF Opposes Effort by Trump Family Crypto Company to Grab Bank Charter
Conflicts of Interest Concerns Mount Over World Liberty Financial’s Shadowy Investors
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Trump family crypto firm World Liberty Financial has applied for a national trust bank charter. WLF’s business model does not fall within the bounds of what this kind of charter permits, and the application raises grave conflicts of interest and corruption concerns. If the application is approved, World Liberty Financial (WLF) would gain access to all the benefits of being a publicly chartered bank such as Federal Reserve membership, discounted credit costs, and even emergency bailout lines of credit, without the oversight and supervision that usually goes along with that.
Link to AFREF comment letter
“There is every reason to fear that President Trump’s banking officials will rubber stamp a highly-profitable giveaway to the First Family’s crypto company that creates serious risks for both economic stability and national security,” said Patrick Woodall, managing director for policy at Americans for Financial Reform. “The conflicts of interest are unprecedented.”
The connections to the First Family raise questions about whether financial regulators will evaluate the application impartially — a conflict of interest only heightened by WLF’s ties to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) royal family. Recent reporting by the Wall Street Journal revealed that the sovereign wealth fund chaired by UAE royal Sheik Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan holds a 49 percent stake in WLF, and two of the fund’s officers sit on the WLF board. This large WLF controlling interest also would effectively give the royal family control over the proposed new crypto bank.
World Liberty Financial already appears to operate as a thinly-veiled vector for crypto actors to curry favor with the president. Some have received substantial favors shortly after making large investments or business deals. These include the administration dropping an enforcement case, providing a presidential pardon, and lifting the national security export ban on AI chips to the UAE. The perception of a presidential office that is open to selling executive favors only heightens the growing calls for the inclusion of robust ethics provisions in the current crypto legislation.
“The bid for a crypto bank charter is just the latest in the cascade of crypto corruption emanating from the White House,” said Woodall. “The Congress must block any crypto legislation that does not prevent the president, his family, and other high officials from amassing crypto fortunes while in office.”
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