The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a regulatory agency whose leader was chosen by President Donald Trump, granted preliminary approval on Friday to World Liberty Financial’s application for a federal bank charter.

World Liberty Financial is a crypto venture launched in 2024 by the president’s two eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and several partners. The firm’s website states that WLF is 38% owned by “an entity affiliated with Donald J. Trump and certain of his family members.”

WLF applied for a US bank charter in January, drawing alarm from lawmakers and watchdogs who said the review process would be rife with conflicts of interest. “We have never seen financial conflicts or corruption of this magnitude,” Sen.