World Liberty Financial's WLTC Holdings LLC has submitted a national trust bank license application to the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, planning to focus on the issuance, custody, redemption, and dollar exchange of USD1 stablecoin. This move marks a gradual integration of decentralized finance with the traditional financial system.

Since its launch, the USD1 stablecoin has circulated over $3.3 billion within just one year and is now deployed on 10 public blockchains. This stablecoin is backed by both US dollars and short-term US Treasury bonds. During the initial launch, the trust bank will offer zero-fee exchange services, which is significant for lowering the entry barrier for users.

Market response shows that the WLFI token has performed remarkably. As of January 11, its circulating market cap reached $4.63 billion, with an average daily trading volume of around $460 million. On-chain data indicates that WLFI has a total supply of 99.95 billion tokens, with a circulating supply of 27.24 billion tokens; USD1 has a total supply of 1.31 billion tokens, with a daily trading volume of up to $452 million. The crypto community generally views this as a key milestone in the fusion of DeFi and traditional finance.

However, the project has also attracted some skepticism. Senator Elizabeth Warren pointed out potential conflicts of interest, reflecting the cautious attitude of traditional regulators towards such innovations. This tug-of-war is, to some extent, a necessary phase of financial innovation.