The Foreign Owners Behind Trump’s $4 Billion Stablecoin Bank

Eric Trump signed a promise not to interfere with his familys new stablecoin bank. So did a manager for the Abu Dhabi entity that reportedly owns the largest piece of it. Those promises are called passivity commitments, and regulators use them to stop big owners from steering a bank they are not supposed to run. Who Actually Owns the Trump Stablecoin Bank The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) charters national banks. On August 14 it cleared World Liberty Trust Company to issue and redeem USD1. The bank is owned by a Delaware company called WLTC Holdings. Its shareholder split copies World Liberty Financial, the Trump family crypto venture behind the coin. An entity tied to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al Nahyan holds 49%, according to the Wall Street Journal. A Trump family entity holds 38%. Neither figure appears in the OCCs public decision. The regulator never lists a percentage. Both numbers rest on people familiar with the matter. Tahnoon runs the United Arab Emirates national security service and is the brother of its president. In January 2025, investors associated with him invested $500 million in World Liberty. The deal closed four days before the inauguration. A $20 Million Cushion Behind a $4 Billion Coin The OCC set the banks floor at a minimum of $20 million in tier 1 capital. Half of that must sit in liquid assets. USD1 is far bigger, with the coin holding its dollar peg at $0.9997. Its market value sits near $4.1 billion, ranking 24th among all crypto assets, BeInCrypto data shows. USD1 Price Performance. Source: BeInCrypto That capital is not what backs the coin, as the reserves do that job. Still, there is clear concern, because the bank needs about $1 of its own capital for every $205 of USD1 outstanding. The reserves are where the money is. Three-month Treasury bills yielded 3.79% on August 26, Treasury rates show. At that rate, $4.1 billion throws off roughly $155 million a year. World Liberty has estimated $150 million, with the math saying that estimate is, if anything, cautious. Today, BitGo issues the coin and keeps part of the interest. The new bank plans to take those reserves over. Every dollar of yield then stays in-house. Meanwhile, one detail matters for holders. Stablecoins are not deposits, so USD1 carries no Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) coverage. The Pledge That Replaced a Fight The OCC collected passivity commitments from three entities: DT Marks SC LLC was signed by Eric F. Trump as president. StringZ Holding RSC was signed by Hamad Khlfan Ali Matar Alshamsi, a former director of Tahnoons artificial intelligence firm G42. AMGUS LLC was signed by co-founder Zachary Folkman. Each promised no board seats and no influence over dividends, pricing, personnel, or operations. Any voting stake above 9.9% gets handed to management by proxy. Then comes the line that defines the whole approval. Although such investors were not considered principal shareholders of the Bank, the OCC received passivity commitments from certain U.S. and non-U.S. investors in World Liberty Financial, reads Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Corporate Decision #1385. So the OCC took pledges from investors it did not formally treat as principal owners. The Journal calls these only the second set demanded since Trump returned to office. That count comes from its own review, not a public tally. Why Democrats Call This a Security Problem Senator Elizabeth Warren has pressed Comptroller Jonathan Gould to delay the charter review until the president divests. any financial connection between Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan and an applicant for a national bank charter, especially one owned by the President, should be immediately disqualifying given the national security concerns, Elizabeth Warren, US Senator, in a letter to the OCC. Washington was weighing UAE access to advanced American chips while G42 waited on supply. Senate Democrats have already demanded congressional hearings. World Liberty says career OCC staff reviewed the application. The White House reportedly denies any conflict. The bank cannot open yet. Rather, it has only 12 months to raise capital and 18 months from August 14 to start business. A final exam still stands between the charter and the doors opening. The open question is whether that exam tests who owns the bank, or only the paperwork saying they will stay quiet.