U.S. Senator Warren calls for a halt to the WLFI bank license application process until the Trump family divests related holdings

On January 14, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren called for a halt to the approval process of World Liberty Trust Co.'s U.S. trust bank license application until President Trump divests his family’s holdings in related digital asset businesses. Warren sent a letter to Acting Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould on Tuesday. The affiliated company of World Liberty Financial Inc. is applying for a charter license with the agency, which, if approved, would allow it to directly issue a USD1 stablecoin. In her letter, she urged Gould to delay the approval process while Trump still holds equity that could create conflicts of interest. “We have never seen such a scale of financial conflicts of interest or corruption,” Warren wrote in the letter. “Congress failed to address these issues when passing the GENIUS Act, so the Senate must take responsibility for handling these real and serious conflicts of interest as it reviews legislation on the crypto market structure.” Warren is the chief Democratic senator on the Senate Banking Committee, which is scheduled to hold a hearing on Thursday. The draft bill released late Monday does not yet include the government ethics provisions demanded by Democratic senators during lengthy negotiations. As the committee prepares to review amendments and potentially vote to send the bill to the full Senate, how this issue will be resolved remains unclear.