Trump Family's Crypto Venture: WLFI Token Launch Sparks Billion-Dollar Buzz & Controversy

Trump Family's Crypto Venture: WLFI Token Launch Sparks Billion-Dollar Buzz

The Trump family's flagship cryptocurrency project launched on Monday, debuting a new digital currency and initiating trading, potentially bringing the family a paper fortune of up to $5 billion. This token launch mirrors an initial public offering (IPO). The cryptocurrency, named WLFI, can now be bought and sold on the open market like shares of a publicly traded company. Previously, investors who privately purchased WLFI from World Liberty Financial, a Trump family entity, were unable to trade their holdings.

For the Trump family, the first day of token trading is potentially their biggest financial success since taking office. Family members, including Trump himself, hold nearly a quarter of all current WLFI tokens. Trump's three sons are co-founders of World Liberty Financial, which lists Trump as a “Co-Founder Emeritus.”

World Liberty Financial states that the tokens held by founders and team members remain “locked,” meaning they are currently unable to sell them. However, this trading launch gives their holdings a real market valuation, whereas previously these holdings' value was based only on private trading prices.

Based on Monday's closing price, the 22.5 billion WLFI tokens controlled by the Trump family are worth approximately $5 billion on paper, and could now be the Trump family's most valuable asset, exceeding the value of their real estate portfolio held for decades. Although the Trump family continues to advance real estate deals globally since taking office, the rapidly growing cryptocurrency business has brought the most significant early gains.

A year ago, Trump helped launch World Liberty Financial during his campaign, stating that the company would help “Make America Great Again, with the power of cryptocurrency.”

World Liberty Financial's rise this year coincides with Trump promoting the cryptocurrency industry at the White House. He has relaxed industry regulations on one hand, and promoted the potential of private digital currencies to inject vitality into the American economy on the other.

Before WLFI tokens were publicly traded, World Liberty Financial acquired a publicly traded company this summer and raised $750 million in cash from investors to acquire the cryptocurrency.

The Wall Street Journal previously reported that this transaction has a special “circular nature” – the buyer and seller are the same entity; because the Trump family can receive three-quarters (the highest proportion) of the token sales proceeds, this transaction is expected to bring them approximately $500 million in revenue.

Data from cryptocurrency data platform CoinMarketCap shows that WLFI's trading popularity on various cryptocurrency exchanges soared early Monday morning, and trading volume exceeded $1 billion in one hour.

On the most popular exchange, Binance, WLFI opened at approximately 30 cents, then gradually fell throughout the day to around 20 cents – a range that is basically in line with the implied price of WLFI futures contracts launched on the exchange last week.

If the Trump family's holdings in other cryptocurrency businesses are included, the total size of their crypto assets will be further increased. Entities related to Trump control approximately 80% of the “$Trump” tokens – a meme coin with a market value of billions of dollars.

Trump family trusts also hold slightly more than 50% of the shares of publicly traded company “Trump Media,” which operates Trump's “Truth Social” platform and is also engaged in buying, selling, and holding cryptocurrencies. This stake is worth approximately $2.5 billion.

It should be clarified that monetizing this newly created wealth may not be easy. Even a small amount of selling could trigger a sharp drop in prices.

On Monday, the price of WLFI was much higher than the 1.5 cent premium paid by early investors from World Liberty Financial last year, providing early investors with the opportunity to make huge profits. World Liberty Financial said that early investors can initially only trade one-fifth of their holdings.

Cryptocurrencies are known for their volatility, meaning that the specific size of the Trump family's wealth may fluctuate greatly. The meme coin “$Trump”, which was launched in January of this year, rose sharply initially and then fell sharply.

Critics of World Liberty Financial point out that the company may become a tool for influencing the Trump family, and its development is being promoted by partners and investors seeking help from the White House. For example, The Wall Street Journal previously reported that market demand for the dollar-pegged stablecoin “USD1” issued by World Liberty Financial is mainly supported by Binance – and that Binance’s convicted founder is seeking a pardon from Trump.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “The President and his family have never and will never engage in conduct that presents a conflict of interest.”

World Liberty Financial CEO Zach Witkoff – son of Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff – said last week that the company is purely a private company and is not involved in politics, although “obviously President Trump is the greatest president ever.”

World Liberty Financial claims that the long-term value of its cryptocurrencies will be supported by the company's development plans, which aim to become a major player in the cryptocurrency industry. In addition to issuing the USD1 stablecoin, the project also plans to launch a mobile app. Donald Trump Jr. tweeted immediately after the token was launched: “This is not some meme coin.”

Tad Tobar, COO of cryptocurrency company Lorenzo Protocol, said that the company has begun cooperating with World Liberty Financial and that he plans to buy and hold WLFI tokens. WLFI token holders can exercise voting rights (i.e., so-called “governance rights”) over some operations at World Liberty Financial, but do not have the right to share in company profits.

“The durability of this token is real because it’s designed to be a governance token for this new open economy,” Tobar said.