World Liberty investors agree to limit influence over proposed trust bank

World Liberty Financial investors including Eric Trump have agreed to limit their influence over the management of the company’s proposed national trust bank as it moves through the federal approval process.

Trump, World Liberty cofounder Zak Folkman and Emirati businessman Hamad Khalfan Ali Matar Alshamsi signed agreements known as passivity commitments on behalf of their respective companies, according to documents disclosed alongside the bank’s preliminary approval last week.

The agreements commit the investors to avoiding influence over the bank’s management. World Liberty said the arrangements are intended to ensure certain stakeholders do not exercise control over the operations of World Liberty Trust Company.

The commitments have attracted attention because of World Liberty’s connections to President Donald Trump’s family and foreign investors.

Similar arrangements have previously been used by major institutional investors. Vanguard Group has pledged not to influence banks held in its investment portfolios, while China’s sovereign wealth fund entered a passivity agreement when acquiring a stake in Morgan Stanley.

World Liberty said it intends to operate under continued federal oversight.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted World Liberty Trust Company preliminary approval last week. The charter still requires final approval.

If approved, the trust bank would be able to issue and redeem World Liberty’s USD1 stablecoin, manage its reserves and provide digital asset custody services. It would not operate as a traditional commercial bank.

The proposed charter has faced political scrutiny because of the Trump family’s financial interests in World Liberty. 

Senate Democrats including Elizabeth Warren have introduced legislation that would prevent regulators from approving bank charters for companies owned or controlled by a president or members of their immediate family.

World Liberty has said Trump and his family do not serve as officers, directors or employees of the company. The White House has rejected claims that the president’s financial interests create a conflict of interest.

The bank application also includes organizers and directors connected to the Witkoff family, including Zach Witkoff, Scott Alper and Robert Witkoff.

World Liberty’s ownership structure has also drawn scrutiny. Before Trump’s inauguration, the company agreed to sell a 49% stake to a firm backed by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, the brother of the United Arab Emirates president, for $500 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Securing a charter would allow World Liberty to bring issuance and reserve management for USD1 in-house. The stablecoin has a market capitalization of nearly $4 billion, making it one of the world’s largest dollar-backed stablecoins.

The OCC has taken a more receptive stance toward crypto banking applications under Comptroller Jonathan Gould. Ripple, Paxos, and Fidelity Digital Assets received conditional trust bank approvals in 2025, while Coinbase received similar approval earlier this year.