Trump’s WLFI crypto investments aren’t paying off

World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the crypto firm associated with the family of US President Donald Trump, made waves when it debuted late last year.WLFI caused a stir when it launched ahead of the president’s inauguration. Observers have accused the project of front-running important crypto-related events, like the White House Crypto summit, and presenting a conflict of interest.Trump is in a unique position to influence outcomes that would affect his portfolio, but WLFI is not insulated from the broader market trends, which have seen crypto and stock prices drop amid significant macroeconomic concerns. The Trump administration will soon mark 100 days in office. Here’s what WLFI has been up to, and how the president’s crypto investments are shaking out.The “gold paper” for WLFI features flattering Trump imagery. Source: WLFIFounding and ownership of Trump’s crypto investment WLFI projectWLFI launched on Sept. 16, with then-President-elect Donald Trump announcing the move on X. Founded under the guidance of real estate magnate Steve Witkoff and his son Zach, the co-founders also include Chase Herro, a crypto investor and self-described “dirtbag of the internet,” and Zak Folkman, a social media influencer and former pickup artist. The Trump family also features prominently. President Trump is listed as “chief crypto advocate,” while his sons Eric, Donald Jr. and Barron are “Web3 ambassadors.” The leadership team at WLFI. Source: WLFIWLFI token salesOne of World Liberty Financial’s first moves was to sell its own token. The first token sale opened on Oct. 15, 2024, earning the company about $300 million by selling 20 billion WLFI $WLFI for $0.015 each. On Jan. 20, 2025, the day Trump was inaugurated, WLFI announced a second token sale, citing “massive demand and overwhelming interest.” The firm offered 5 billion tokens at $0.05 each, representing a price increase of 230% from the first sale. The second sale was completed nearly two months later on March 14, having met its full target of $250 million.According to the project’s “gold paper,” the WLFI tokens will confer voter rights to holders on important matters affecting the protocol, such as upgrades. The anticipated token distribution is:35% through token sales,32.5% for incentives and community growth,30% for “initial supporter” allocation,and 2.5% for “core team and advisers.”All told, WLFI walked away with $550 million in token sales. $WLFI was 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’s portfolioToken sales aside, the WLFI has been acting as a type of crypto fund, accumulating a number of different tokens over the past several months. Here’s a breakdown:WLFI portfolio contains a number of different assets, with 13 making up the lion’s share at 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, according to Arkham. 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 (aethUSDC), means they supply USDC to a pool on Aave. WLFI’s portfolio contains eight cryptocurrencies that are non-stablecoin assets it purchased (versus received via airdrop). Wrapped BTC (WBTC)Mantle (MNT)Movement (MOVE)Sei (SEI)Avalanche (AVAX)Tron (TRX)Ondo (ONDO)Ether (ETH) Overall, WLFI’s holdings in WBTC, SEI and AVAX have been performing most successfully. The first WBTC purchase happened on Dec. 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 Dec. 21. Then, it moved all acquired ETH (including 3,700 ETH deposited in October) to Coinbase Prime on Jan. 14.Between Jan. 19 and Jan. 21, it bought nearly 57,000 ETH and continued acquiring it until

Apr 26, 2025 - 13:10

World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the crypto firm associated with the family of US President Donald Trump, made waves when it debuted late last year.

WLFI caused a stir when it launched ahead of the president’s inauguration. Observers have accused the project of front-running important crypto-related events, like the White House Crypto summit, and presenting a conflict of interest.

Trump is in a unique position to influence outcomes that would affect his portfolio, but WLFI is not insulated from the broader market trends, which have seen crypto and stock prices drop amid significant macroeconomic concerns.

The Trump administration will soon mark 100 days in office. Here’s what WLFI has been up to, and how the president’s crypto investments are shaking out.

Founding and ownership of Trump’s crypto investment WLFI project

WLFI launched on Sept. 16, with then-President-elect Donald Trump announcing the move on X. Founded under the guidance of real estate magnate Steve Witkoff and his son Zach, the co-founders also include Chase Herro, a crypto investor and self-described “dirtbag of the internet,” and Zak Folkman, a social media influencer and former pickup artist.

The Trump family also features prominently. President Trump is listed as “chief crypto advocate,” while his sons Eric, Donald Jr. and Barron are “Web3 ambassadors.”

WLFI token sales

One of World Liberty Financial’s first moves was to sell its own token. The first token sale opened on Oct. 15, 2024, earning the company about $300 million by selling 20 billion WLFI $WLFI for $0.015 each.

On Jan. 20, 2025, the day Trump was inaugurated, WLFI announced a second token sale, citing “massive demand and overwhelming interest.” The firm offered 5 billion tokens at $0.05 each, representing a price increase of 230% from the first sale. The second sale was completed nearly two months later on March 14, having met its full target of $250 million.

According to the project’s “gold paper,” the WLFI tokens will confer voter rights to holders on important matters affecting the protocol, such as upgrades. The anticipated token distribution is:

35% through token sales,
32.5% for incentives and community growth,
30% for “initial supporter” allocation,
and 2.5% for “core team and advisers.”

All told, WLFI walked away with $550 million in token sales. $WLFI was 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’s portfolio

Token sales aside, the WLFI has been acting as a type of crypto fund, accumulating a number of different tokens over the past several months. Here’s a breakdown:

WLFI portfolio contains a number of different assets, with 13 making up the lion’s share at 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, according to Arkham. 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 (aethUSDC), means they supply USDC to a pool on Aave.

WLFI’s portfolio contains eight cryptocurrencies that are non-stablecoin assets it purchased (versus received via airdrop).

Wrapped BTC (WBTC)
Mantle (MNT)
Movement (MOVE)
Sei (SEI)
Avalanche (AVAX)
Tron (TRX)
Ondo (ONDO)
Ether (ETH)

Overall, WLFI’s holdings in WBTC, SEI and AVAX have been performing most successfully.

The first WBTC purchase happened on Dec. 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 Dec. 21. Then, it moved all acquired ETH (including 3,700 ETH deposited in October) to Coinbase Prime on Jan. 14.

Between Jan. 19 and Jan. 21, it bought nearly 57,000 ETH and continued acquiring it until Feb. 3, when it moved most of the ETH to Coinbase Prime. Coincidentally, Eric Trump was shilling Ether on X at the same time.

Conflicts of interest and stablecoins

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 that body’s 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 at publishing time is trading on centralized exchanges Kinesis Money and ChangeNOW, according to CoinMarketCap.

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 Truth Social, “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.

And crypto firms seem to believe in the project. On April 16, crypto market maker DWF Labs announced a $25 million investment in WLFI and agreed to provide liquidity for USD1.

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