Trump-Backed World Liberty Financial to Bring USD1 Stablecoin Payments to Major Online Businesses
Key Takeaways
- •WLFI plans to bring USD1 stablecoin payments to major online businesses through a partnership with payments infrastructure provider Mesh, with rollout targeted for this quarter.
- •USD1 is issued by BitGo, backed by cash, US government money market funds and other cash equivalents, and had a market capitalization of $4.45 billion at the time of writing.
- •The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted WLFI conditional approval in August to establish a national trust bank, which would enable the company to take over USD1 issuance from BitGo.
- •Senator Elizabeth Warren criticized the charter approval over alleged conflicts of interest involving the Trump family's ties to WLFI, and she and other senators introduced the Ending Presidential Corruption in Banking Act in response.
- •The OCC stated that its leadership and staff acted consistently with their statutory duties and ethical obligations when reviewing WLFI's application.

World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the crypto venture backed by the family of US President Donald Trump, plans to bring its USD1 stablecoin payments to major online businesses, executives announced during a panel discussion at Token2049 in Singapore on Wednesday.
WLFI CEO Zach Witkoff and co-founder Zak Folkman joined a stablecoin-focused panel at the industry conference alongside Bam Azizi, co-founder and CEO of payments infrastructure provider Mesh.
During the session, Azizi unveiled a partnership with WLFI that will allow USD1 holders to spend the stablecoin across Mesh's merchant network, with the rollout planned for this quarter. The arrangement would extend USD1 beyond the World Liberty app and crypto-native users, putting a dollar-pegged token at the checkout of established online businesses.
"Beyond the use of the World Liberty app itself, we are already in plans to roll out this exact same technology to some of the largest Web2 businesses that are in the marketplace," Folkman said.
WLFI's Zak Folkman speaks during a stablecoin panel at Token2049 in Singapore on Wednesday. Photo: Aubrey Paller/Cointelegraph
USD1 is designed to maintain a value of $1 and is issued by BitGo, with reserves comprising cash, US government money market funds and other cash equivalents. The stablecoin's market capitalization stood at $4.45 billion at the time of writing, according to CoinGecko — a fraction of the supply behind the sector's largest dollar-pegged tokens, Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC.
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WLFI seeks to take over USD1 issuance
In August, the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) granted conditional approval for WLFI to establish a national trust bank intended to issue dollar-backed stablecoins and custody digital assets. National trust charters place institutions under OCC supervision, and several digital-asset firms have obtained or sought them in recent years for custody and settlement services. According to Witkoff, the move would allow the company to take over issuance of USD1.
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"Today we're issuing through BitGo," he said. "With this trust charter, we'll be able to take on that responsibility ourselves."
The charter approval drew criticism from Senator Elizabeth Warren, who alleged conflicts of interest involving the Trump family's ties to WLFI. Warren and other senators have introduced the Ending Presidential Corruption in Banking Act in response.
The OCC said its leadership and staff had acted consistently with their statutory duties and ethical obligations when reviewing the application.
At the panel, Witkoff described the conditional approval as something WLFI had achieved "in spite of some of the attacks against us," referring to criticism from the mainstream media and politicians.
With the merchant rollout targeted for this quarter, developments to watch include which online businesses adopt USD1 and whether the trust charter moves from conditional approval to full issuance.
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Source: Cointelegraph