UAE Royals Take Control of Trump-Backed World Liberty Financial

World Liberty Financial (WLFI) is making progress on its banking plans after receiving preliminary conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The company aims to establish a federally chartered national trust bank that will issue, redeem, and safeguard the dollar-backed stablecoin USD1.

The new bank would be focused on using USD1, which currently has a market value of about $4 billion and is backed by U.S. Treasurys and cash equivalents. WLFI CEO Zach Witkoff stated the company's goal to 'build the most trusted and widely used digital dollar in the world.'

However, this development comes with controversy surrounding World Liberty's ownership structure. According to a report, investors linked to Abu Dhabi royal Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al Nahyan control a 49% stake in WLTC Holdings through StringZ Holding RSC.