Have you ever heard in regards to the proposed First National Bank of Trump? I receives a commission to know such issues, however this kleptocratic scheme tiptoed previous me earlier this month whereas I used to be distracted by our invasion of Venezuela, the phony criminal investigation of Jerome Powell, the Greenland invasion scare, ICE’s rising body count (eight dead so far in 2026), and the declining dollar. Amongst his many different accomplishments, President Donald Trump has altered our conventional expertise of time.
The financial institution received’t truly be referred to as the First National Bank of Trump, however it would possibly as properly. The Trump household crypto agency, World Liberty Financial, filed an application January 9 with the Workplace of the Comptroller of the Forex, or OCC, to constitution a “belief financial institution” that can be referred to as World Liberty Belief Firm. A belief financial institution is a financial institution that doesn’t settle for deposits or subject loans. The aim of the financial institution could be to handle USD1, a stablecoin that World Liberty Monetary created final March. USD1 is already the fifth-largest stablecoin on the earth, with a market capitalization (Donald Trump Jr. announced December 28) of $5 billion.
Should you aren’t a cybercurrency particular person however nonetheless really feel that “USD1” rings a bell, that’s in all probability as a result of final Could the United Arab Emirates bought, from World Liberty Monetary, $2 billion of USD1 to accumulate a stake in Binance. Two weeks later, the UAE persuaded the Trump administration to take away a Biden-era nationwide safety restriction on the nation’s importation of superior AI chips. The Trump administration agreed to this despite intelligence that the UAE had beforehand shared know-how with China that prolonged the vary of Chinese language missiles.
As far as we all know, the UAE by no means enunciated any quid professional quo (“Right here is the unlawful bribe you requested for to ship us some AI chips”). However members of the Witkoff household (Steve Witkoff is Trump’s particular envoy to the Center East, and in addition to Ukraine) have been concerned in each transactions, and so was Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who manages the UAE’s sovereign wealth fund. Six months later, Trump gave Binance founder and convicted cash launderer C.Z. Zhao a presidential pardon. When asked about this on 60 Minutes, Trump stated, “I don’t know who he’s” after which contradicted himself by saying, “He’s extremely revered. He’s a really profitable man.”
I’ve acknowledged beforehand (here and here) that the UAE’s USD1-for-AI-chips swap constitutes the most important political bribery scandal since Teapot Dome, with the caveat that the Supreme Court docket has so totally decriminalized political bribery in recent times that even when the Justice Division nonetheless had a purposeful public integrity part (which it doesn’t), it isn’t apparent {that a} prosecutor would win a conviction. Albert Fall, eat your coronary heart out.
However I digress.
World Liberty Monetary was co-founded in December 2024 by Donald Trump, Witkoff, Trump’s sons (Don Jr., Eric, and younger Barron), and Witkoff’s sons (Zach and Andrew). Donald Trump and Steve Witkoff at the moment are listed as “co-founder emeritus.” The corporate is incessantly described as “Trump-backed,” however I’ve by no means encountered proof {that a} Trump member of the family has put a lot as a nickel into this enterprise. The Trumps do, nevertheless, extract cash from it: according to Bloomberg, at the very least $890 million so far. As well as, the Trump household owns World Liberty Monetary tokens price one other $3.8 billion. The Trumps began out proudly owning a 75 p.c majority stake in World Liberty Monetary, however that’s now all the way down to 38 p.c. We don’t know to whom the Trumps bought 37 p.c of their stake, or how a lot they obtained paid for it, regardless that it appears we kinda ought to.
No Trump names seem on the application to the OCC to create World Liberty Belief Firm. The applying lists the proposed belief financial institution’s notional president as Zach Witkoff, who can also be chairman and president of World Liberty Monetary. The proposed financial institution’s notional board members embody Zach; Zach’s uncle (Steve’s brother) Robert Witkoff; and Scott Alper, who’s president of the Witkoff Group, Steve Witkoff’s actual property agency. The financial institution would share workplace area with World Liberty Monetary in Bar Harbor Islands, Florida.
Why does World Liberty Monetary desire a belief financial institution? As a result of the GENIUS Act handed final July subjected fintech to varied choices for regulatory oversight, of which the least burdensome is to obtain a federal financial institution constitution. According to a current paper by Georgia State College assistant professor Todd Phillips, a federal financial institution constitution shields the financial institution from state shopper safety legal guidelines and in addition offers potential entry to a grasp account with the Federal Reserve that permits it to obtain digital funds. A federal financial institution constitution additionally permits fintech corporations like World Liberty Monetary, quite than some third get together, to be custodian of their own stablecoins, and to easily convert stablecoins to {dollars} and {dollars} to stablecoins. Many fintech companies have received bank charters already; the OCC appears to be handing them out like a lot penny sweet.
Sadly, Phillips factors out, when a proposed belief financial institution is linked to the president of the US, that president is liable to strain the OCC to approve a constitution. In a January 13 letter to Jonathan Gould, comptroller of the forex, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, stated that concern of exactly such a situation prompted her to vote towards the GENIUS Act. Warren additionally expressed annoyance that when she requested Gould about this chance in July, he declined to reply “hypothetical questions.” As well as, it appears to me, a president who’s already demonstrated an eagerness to tilt Fed coverage to his political benefit in all probability wouldn’t balk at tilting it additionally to his business benefit (although not being accustomed to the mechanics of the Fed’s grasp accounts, I can’t inform you precisely how).
“Now we have by no means seen monetary conflicts or corruption of this magnitude,” Warren stated in her January 13 letter. You may say that once more. Constitutional emoluments-clause considerations about Trump’s Pennsylvania Avenue lodge throughout his first time period now appear quaint. The nonprofit Residents for Accountability and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, sued Trump again then for violating the emoluments clauses. CREW prevailed in decrease courts, however when it obtained to the Supreme Court docket the justices quietly set the matter apart till Trump left workplace in order that they may declare it moot.
I requested Jordan Libowitz, CREW’s communications director, why CREW didn’t file a brand new lawsuit when Trump returned to the White Home. He stated {that a} authorized problem based mostly on Trump’s crypto holdings could be tougher as a result of CREW would wish to discover a fintech firm with standing to sue the president, and people don’t develop on bushes. (Final time, the District of Columbia had standing as a result of it owned a rival lodge within the District.) “Trump is sort of in style within the crypto area,” Libowitz noticed. However sure, “the grift and corruption is on a scale method past what we noticed within the first time period.”
However certainly some effort needs to be mounted to file an emoluments problem once more, if not by CREW (they’ve executed their bit) then by another person. Our president is completely out of management. A plaintiff with standing have to be on the market someplace. Should you’re studying this and also you’re a wise public curiosity lawyer, please give this half an hour of your time to suppose via.
