World Liberty Financial Triples Ether Holdings Amid Market Downturn
1min read In a significant move, the blockchain platform linked to former United States President Donald Trump, World Liberty Financial (WLFI), tripled its Ether holdings in a week. This strategic investment came as the cryptocurrency market experienced a downturn, with Ether's price briefly dipping below $2,000. The platform's decision to increase its holdings by approximately $10 million in Ether, along with additional investments in Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) and Movement Network (MOVE) tokens, reflects a bullish stance amidst market volatility.
WLFI's latest acquisitions include an additional $10 million in Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) and $1.5 million in Movement Network (MOVE) tokens. Despite these investments, the platform is currently sitting on a total unrealized loss of over $89 million across the nine tokens it invested in. This move comes during a period of heightened market volatility and investor concerns, driven by both macroeconomic factors and crypto-specific events, including the $1.4 billion Bybit hack on Feb. 21, the largest exploit in crypto history.
Meanwhile, Solana experienced nearly half a billion dollars in outflows in February. Investors shifted their capital to what were perceived as safer digital assets, reflecting growing uncertainty in the cryptocurrency market. The capital exodus from Solana primarily flowed to Ethereum, Arbitrum, and the BNB Chain. This flight to safety was driven by a broader trend in the crypto market, with Bitcoin dominance increasing to 59.6% in the past month. The outflows from Solana were also influenced by disappointment in Solana-based memecoin launches and the overall negative sentiment in the market.
The Bybit hack, which resulted in the theft of over $1.4 billion worth of liquid-staked Ether (STETH), Mantle Staked ETH (mETH), and other ERC-20 tokens, has been fully laundered by the hacker. The stolen funds, amounting to 500,000 Ether, were primarily moved through the decentralized crosschain protocol THORChain. Despite the laundering, some of the loot may still be recoverable by blockchain security experts. North Korea’s Lazarus Group has been identified as the main culprit behind the attack, and they have converted the stolen proceeds despite being sanctioned by South Korean authorities for their involvement in cryptocurrency heists and cyber theft.
