Trump-linked Crypto Firm WLFI Faces 230% Token Price Increase, $4.28 Million Loss

World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a crypto firm associated with the family of former US President Donald Trump, has faced significant challenges since its launch late last year. The project, which debuted ahead of Trump's inauguration, has been criticized for front-running important crypto-related events and presenting a conflict of interest. Observers have noted that Trump's unique position allows him to influence outcomes that could affect his portfolio, but WLFI is not immune to broader market trends, which have seen crypto and stock prices drop amid significant macroeconomic concerns.

WLFI was founded on September 16, with then-President-elect Donald Trump announcing the move. The co-founders include real estate magnate Steve Witkoff, his son Zach, crypto investor Chase Herro, and social media influencer Zak Folkman. The Trump family is prominently featured in the project, with President Trump listed as the "chief crypto advocate" and his sons Eric, Donald Jr., and Barron as "Web3 ambassadors."

One of WLFI's first moves was to sell its own token. The initial token sale opened on October 15, 2024, earning the company about $300 million by selling 20 billion WLFI tokens at $0.015 each. A second token sale was announced on January 20, 2025, the day of Trump's inauguration, citing "massive demand and overwhelming interest." The firm offered 5 billion tokens at $0.05 each, representing a 230% price increase from the first sale. The second sale was completed nearly two months later on March 14, having met its full target of $250 million. The anticipated token distribution includes 35% through token sales, 32.5% for incentives and community growth, 30% for "initial supporter" allocation, and 2.5% for the "core team and advisers." All told, WLFI walked away with $550 million in token sales. The WLFI tokens confer voter rights to holders on important matters affecting the protocol, such as upgrades. However, the tokens are only available to accredited investors and cannot be transferred or traded on exchanges per the terms and conditions. There is yet to be an announced listing date for the token.

WLFI has also been acting as a type of crypto fund, accumulating a number of different tokens over the past several months. The firm's portfolio contains a number of different assets, with 13 making up the lion’s share at the time of writing. Most of its holdings are in dollar-backed stablecoin USDC, followed by Wrapped Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). The top 13 assets make up nearly $100 million of the firm’s $103 million portfolio. Dozens of other small coins, some with a total dollar value of less than $100,000, make up the remaining value. WLFI’s $5 million worth of Aave Ethereum USDC means they supply USDC to a pool on Aave. WLFI’s portfolio contains eight cryptocurrencies that are non-stablecoin assets it purchased. These include Wrapped BTC (WBTC), Mantle (MNT), Movement (MOVE), Sei (SEI), Avalanche (AVAX), Tron (TRX), Ondo (ONDO), and Ether (ETH). Overall, WLFI’s holdings in WBTC, SEI, and AVAX have been performing most successfully. The first WBTC purchase happened on December 18, when WLFI exchanged 103 WBTC for 103 cbBTC. Nearly one month later, WLFI traded everything for ETH. The fund started accumulating WBTC again, mostly using USDT, and sent it to Coinbase Prime in early February. WLFI’s AVAX position was completed in one purchase on March 15, while it bought nearly $6 million worth of SEI over three separate purchases in February, March, and April. Other positions haven’t been faring nearly as well. Major investments in MNT, MOVE, ONDO, and ETH are all seeing losses in the double digits as of April 24. MOVE is taking a beating, with WLFI’s total investment value down over 50%, losing some $2,100,000 on the investment. Taking into account the average price of WLFI’s token purchases, along with its assets’ current prices, the fund is seeing a loss, on average, of $4,280,000. Notably, WLFI has also deposited several early purchases of tokens in December and January into Coinbase Prime. WLFI wallets slowly acquired ETH long before the main action started. WLFI began acquiring large sums worth over $1 million in late November and continued doing so every few days until December 21. Then, it moved all acquired ETH (including 3,700 ETH deposited in October) to Coinbase Prime on January 14. Between January 19 and January 21, it bought nearly 57,000 ETH and continued acquiring it until February 3, when it moved most of the ETH to Coinbase Prime. Coincidentally, Eric Trump was promoting Ether on social media at the same time.

The curious timing of WLFI moving the tokens to a crypto exchange and Eric Trump’s post raises the question of the Trump family’s ability to influence the tokens they hold. In late March, a group of Senators from the banking committee wrote an open letter, pressing regulatory agencies to consider the potential conflicts of interest in WLFI, particularly with the project’s stablecoin, USD1. USD1 launched in early March and is trading on centralized exchanges. The Senators were concerned that Trump stands in a unique position to influence and offer boons to his own stablecoin project, particularly with the forthcoming stablecoin framework bill under consideration in Congress. When markets slumped following Trump’s tariff announcement on “Liberation Day,” the president posted on the right-wing social media platform, “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!” further igniting concerns about insider trading and market manipulation. Despite these concerns, the Trump administration’s ties to crypto are only strengthening. His administration has dropped several high-level enforcement cases against crypto firms, and his allies in Congress are writing favorable legislation for the industry. Crypto firms seem to believe in the project. On April 16, crypto market maker announced a $25 million investment in WLFI and agreed to provide liquidity for USD1.