World Liberty Financial (WLFI) CEO Zach Witkoff has dismissed allegations that the firm's USD1 stablecoin is being used to funnel funds to the Trump family. In an August 25 interview with CNBC, Witkoff downplayed claims of political interference and Trump cronyism, pointing instead to the stablecoin's organic traction and utility.
According to Witkoff, USD1 has over $4 billion in circulation, with more than a billion dollars trading in volume daily. He noted that the stablecoin recorded $1.7 billion in volume over a trailing 24-hour period, stating that these figures reflect actual customer use cases.
WLFI is a decentralized finance project backed by the Trump family, and Zach Witkoff is the son of U.S. special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff. The project has faced skepticism from critics regarding potential conflicts of interest and political influence. In late 2025, the Wall Street Journal alleged that Binance's Changpeng Zhao helped scale USD1 before receiving a presidential pardon. Additionally, scrutiny over the project has contributed to Democrats withholding support for the CLARITY Act due to limited ethics provisions.
Despite the criticism, Witkoff stated that he focuses on driving utility for WLFI users rather than conflict-of-interest claims. The company recently received a conditional trust charter license from the OCC, joining firms like Ripple and Circle, which will allow WLFI to custody its own reserves linked to issued stablecoins.
On a year-to-date basis, USD1's market supply grew by 20% to reach $4 billion, while Tether's USDT slipped 2% to $183 billion, according to CoinGecko data. Witkoff stated that the charter approval will help the firm institutionalize its business as USD1 continues to show growth compared to the broader stablecoin sector.
