While American families pay record prices at the pump for a war Trump started, his own family is building a private financial empire with his administration’s blessing.
World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s crypto venture, just received preliminary approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to become a federally chartered trust bank, putting the Trump family in a position to issue and safeguard its own dollar-backed stablecoin under the protection of the same government Trump leads. The approval lands as the war he started drives gas prices to record highs, exposing the gap between how his family is faring and the economic reality everyone else is facing right now.
A family bank, built on presidential power:
- Trump personally pocketed more than $500 million in 2025 from selling tokens tied to World Liberty, on top of another $263 million from selling equity in the venture to investors led by a United Arab Emirates royal.
- World Liberty’s leadership runs directly through Trump’s inner circle. The company’s CEO is the son of Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, and the family firm’s board includes the CEO’s uncle and a Witkoff Group executive.
- The pending bank charter would hand a business Trump’s own family profits from expanded access to the traditional financial system, overseen by an agency operating under his administration.
The bill everyone else is paying while the Trumps get richer:
- Last week, Trump said he’d “never apologize” for waging a war with Iran that sent gas prices through the roof.
- The national average price of gas has climbed above $4 a gallon, the highest level GasBuddy has ever recorded in mid-August, as fuel costs surge amid the war in Iran.
- Higher energy costs are driving inflation, which reached its highest level in three years this summer.
- The average household has paid at least $450 more in energy costs since the war began, with lower-income households hit hardest.
- Americans have paid more than $75 billion in additional fuel costs nationwide, and the total is still rising.
- Farmers are getting hit too; nitrogen fertilizer prices nearly doubled this spring compared to the year before, after they spiked as much as 49% since the war closed off the Strait of Hormuz.
“While Trump’s family cashes in on a crypto bank built with his own administration’s approval, working families are drowning in the cost of his war. Gas prices are higher now than when he took office, with no relief in sight,” said American Bridge 21st Century spokesperson Brandon Weathersby. “Trump has time to help his sons build a stablecoin empire, but he has no plan to bring down the cost families are paying at the pump. It’s clear that he doesn’t care if families are struggling as long as his family keeps getting richer.”
Published: Aug 18, 2026