Elizabeth Warren Calls on OCC to Pause World Liberty Bank Charter Review Over Trump Ties

Highlights:

• Elizabeth Warren asked regulators to pause the World Liberty Bank Charter review until Trump divests his family stake.
• Warren warned that stablecoin oversight could lose credibility if regulators supervise a president’s own business.
• Senate lawmakers have delayed crypto legislation talks as they push for stronger ethics and conflict safeguards.

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren has asked banking regulators to pause review of World Liberty Financial’s bank charter application. She sent a letter to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on Tuesday outlining her concerns. Warren said regulators should delay any decision until President Donald Trump divests all financial interests tied to the company. She argued that unresolved conflicts could undermine trust in the approval process. She framed the issue as a serious test of regulatory independence.

Crypto critic Senator Elizabeth Warren asked a U.S. banking regulator to pause the application connected to World Liberty Financial until President Donald Trump divests his business interests in that company.https://t.co/rqiMpFo7sW pic.twitter.com/KivHdDrqou

— ICO Drops (@ICODrops) January 14, 2026

World Liberty operates through a subsidiary called WLTC Holdings, which recently applied for a national trust bank charter. The charter would allow the firm to issue, custody, and convert its USD1 stablecoin. Warren noted that Trump and his sons, Barron, Eric, and Donald Trump Jr., are listed as co-founders. She added that the platform has generated billions of dollars in paper wealth for the family. Because of this structure, she said regulators must apply heightened scrutiny.

World Liberty Financial Announces that WLTC Holdings LLC has Submitted an Application for a National Trust Bank Charter to Issue and Custody USD1 Stablecoins 🦅☝️https://t.co/ulapagYLYq

— WLFI (@worldlibertyfi) January 7, 2026

Warren warned that approving the application without divestment would create an unprecedented oversight problem. She said the decision could place regulators in a position of supervising a sitting president’s business. She also criticized Congress for failing to address these conflicts when it passed stablecoin legislation. As a result, she said the Senate now carries the responsibility to correct those gaps. Her letter stressed that public confidence depends on a clear separation between political power and private profit.

OCC Role Under GENIUS Act Raises Questions Over World Liberty Bank Charter

Warren focused closely on the OCC’s authority under the GENIUS Act. The law designates the agency as a primary regulator for stablecoin issuers. As a result, the OCC must approve applications and supervise firms operating under this framework. Warren said this role demands strong safeguards against political influence. Without them, she argued, regulatory credibility could suffer.

In her letter, Warren said she had little confidence in Comptroller Jonathan Gould’s ability to assess the application fairly. She pointed to his earlier dismissal of questions about shielding the agency from presidential influence. Warren said Gould would shape rules that could directly affect World Liberty’s profits. At the same time, the OCC would enforce laws against the firm and its competitors. She argued that this overlap creates unavoidable conflict concerns.

Warren also highlighted that Gould serves at the pleasure of the president. Because of that structure, she said Trump could influence oversight decisions tied to his own business. She warned this scenario would mark a first in U.S. regulatory history. In her view, no banking framework should allow such concentrated influence. She urged the OCC to delay action until all conflicts are resolved.

Crypto Market Structure Bill Faces Renewed Ethics Fight In Senate

Warren linked the charter dispute to the Senate Banking Committee’s debate on crypto market structure legislation. As the committee’s ranking Democrat, she plays a key role in shaping the bill. The panel is scheduled to take up the legislation later this week. However, a draft released Monday did not include ethics provisions requested by Democrats.

🚨NEW: There’s an incomplete draft of the Senate Banking Committee’s market structure bill making the rounds ahead of the official release in the next few minutes that omits the section on stablecoin yield.

What it does include:

📌Two small ethics provisions that fall under…

— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) January 13, 2026

She explained that the missing provisions are raising larger issues on the standards of oversight. Several legislators had demanded conflict-of-interest guardrails in the negotiations. In the meantime, Republicans in the Senate Agriculture Committee postponed their own meeting. They claimed the delay would create more time to develop bipartisan support.