Trump-backed WLFI plans USD1 payments for online businesses

World Liberty Financial (WLFI) executives unveiled plans to bring USD1 stablecoin payments to major online businesses during a panel discussion at Token2049 in Singapore on Wednesday.

WLFI CEO Zach Witkoff and co-founder Zak Folkman took part in a stablecoin-focused panel discussion at the industry conference alongside Mesh co-founder and CEO Bam Azizi.

Azizi unveiled a partnership with WLFI that would enable USD1 holders to spend the stablecoin across the payment infrastructure provider’s merchant network. The rollout is planned for this quarter.

“Beyond the use of the World Liberty app itself, we are already in plans to roll out this exact same technology to some of the largest Web2 businesses that are in the marketplace,” Folkman said.

WLFI’s Zak Folkman speaks during a stablecoin panel at Token2049 in Singapore on Wednesday. Photo: Aubrey Paller/Cointelegraph

WLFI is a crypto venture backed by US President Donald Trump’s family. Its USD1 stablecoin is designed to maintain a value of $1 and is issued by BitGo, with reserves comprising cash, US government money market funds and other cash equivalents. 

The stablecoin’s market capitalization stood at $4.45 billion, at the time of writing, according to CoinGecko. 

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WLFI seeks to take over USD1 issuance

In August, the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) granted conditional approval for WLFI to establish a national trust bank intended to issue dollar-backed stablecoins and custody digital assets.

The move would allow it to take over USD1 issuance, according to Witkoff.

Related: Trump-linked WLFI hits new low as token-backed loan triggers concern

“Today we’re issuing through BitGo,” he said. “With this trust charter, we’ll be able to take on that responsibility ourselves.”

The charter approval drew criticism from Senator Elizabeth Warren, who alleged conflicts of interest involving the Trump family’s ties to WLFI. Warren and other senators have introduced the Ending Presidential Corruption in Banking Act in response.

The OCC said its leadership and staff had acted consistently with their statutory duties and ethical obligations when reviewing the application.

At the panel, Witkoff described the conditional approval as something WLFI had achieved “in spite of some of the attacks against us,” referring to criticism from the mainstream media and politicians.

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