The CEO of World Liberty Financial, which has ties to Mr. Trump, disputed claims of a potential conflict of interest, saying the company provides real utility and operates independently of political influence.
The cryptocurrency venture, launched in 2024 by President Donald Trump, his sons, and associates, operates the USD1 stablecoin and recently received conditional approval from the National Trust Bank License, allowing the company to issue and store USD1 in-house.
President Trump’s annual financial disclosures showed approximately $515 million in proceeds from the sale of tokens issued by World Liberty Financial in 2025 and $65 million in proceeds from the sale of WLF holding company stock.
Chief Executive Officer Zach Witkoff, the son of the administration’s Middle East envoy, Stephen Witkoff, pointed to the utility, liquidity and distribution of a dollar, saying concerns about whether companies or countries could use it to funnel money to President Trump and his family are misplaced.
“There’s more than $4 billion in circulation to the dollar, (and) more than $1 billion in transactions per day,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Tuesday morning. “Before we went on set, we checked the volume metrics, and it was $1.7 billion in the next 24 hours. That speaks to the $1 use case, and it speaks to the customers who are actually using it. So I completely disagree with that idea.”
Adding to the conflict of interest concerns surrounding World Liberty, a group with ties to the United Arab Emirates reportedly bought a 49% stake, prompting questions from Congressional Democrats about whether the investment influenced administration policies, including exports of AI chips and arms sales. The Trump family was also entitled to about $500 million from the deal with WLF and Alt5 Sigma, but the stock price has since plummeted.
Wyckoff said that Trump was a successful businessman long before he became president, and that $1 is just a small part of the Trump family’s extensive business empire, reiterating that his customers use stablecoins every day.
He also said he has “never spoken” to the president about business, “never have and never will” and that he is focused on making World Liberty profitable for customers.
“I don’t spend any time thinking about that,” he said of the alleged conflict of interest. “I spend my time thinking about how we do business for our employees and ultimately our customers. You know the internet runs 24/7, so should the dollar as well. Stablecoins are quickly becoming the native cash layer of the internet, and I think USD coins are going to play a big role.”
—CNBC’s Luke Fountain contributed reporting.
