What is WLFI?

WLFI, short for World Liberty Financial, was launched in September of this year. WLFI claims to be inspired by Trump, who has a mission to democratize access to DeFi and promote the widespread adoption of DeFi and cryptocurrency. Since its launch, WLFI’s multi-signature wallet has continuously acquired various cryptocurrencies, with its total assets now exceeding $74.5 million.

Source: worldlibertyfinancial

$WLFI is the native token of the WLFI project, circulating on the Ethereum mainnet with a total supply of 100 billion tokens. On October 15, $WLFI officially began sales on its website, with 20% of the total supply allocated for public sale at a price of $0.015 per token. Recent data indicates that 5.1 billion $WLFI tokens have been sold, raising a total of $76.5 million.

Overview of Team Background

WLFI rose to prominence through its connection with Donald Trump. The official website lists Trump as Chief Crypto Advocate, while his three sons serve as Web3 Ambassadors. The project has five co-founders, in addition to the Trump family’s involvement. Two of them—Chase Herro and Zak Folkman—are newcomers to the crypto industry who previously launched Dough Finance, a DeFi project that lost $2 million to hackers in 2024. The remaining three co-founders come from the Witkoff family: Steven Witkoff, a real estate developer and Trump ally who contributed $2 million to Trump’s presidential campaign, along with his sons Zach and Alex.

Source: worldlibertyfinancial

Beyond these individuals, other team members bring stronger professional credentials and extensive crypto industry experience. Rich Teo, WLFI’s Head of Stablecoins and Payments, is co-founder and former CEO of Paxos Asia. Corey Caplan, the Technical Strategy Lead, co-founded the lending protocol Dolomite and specializes in Solidity smart contract development and database architecture.

Furthermore, WLFI features a distinguished advisory board that includes Scroll co-founder Sandy Peng, Tomo Wallet and Ankr co-founder Ryan Fang, Polychain partner Luke Pearson, Web3 Antivirus and PixelPlex founder Alexei Dulub, and TRON founder Justin Sun.

WLFI Faces Market Controversy

In fact, since its launch, the WLFI project has been mired in market controversy, mainly centered around two issues:

1) The Relationship Between the Trump Family and WLFI
WLFI has prominently leveraged the Trump brand as a promotional gimmick, with members of the Trump family appearing on the team roster in official project roles. However, the WLFI website includes a disclaimer that explicitly distances the project from any official connection to the Trump family. Key points of the disclaimer include:

• Donald J. Trump, any of his family members, directors, officers, or employees of the Trump Organization, DT Marks DEFI LLC, or their respective affiliates, are not executives, directors, founders, or employees of WLFI or its affiliated entities.
• DT Marks DeFi, LLC, and its affiliates, including Donald J. Trump, have received or may receive approximately 22.5 billion WLFI tokens and will be entitled to 75% of net protocol revenue as defined in the service agreement. After deducting agreed reserves, fees, and other amounts, this revenue from any source has yet to be determined.
• WLFI and $WLFI are not involved in any political activities and are not part of any political movement.

While this disclaimer appears to minimize legal exposure, the Trump family maintains visible ties to WLFI. In the cryptocurrency industry—where speculation drives interest—even these surface-level connections prove compelling enough to generate buzz.

2) $WLFI Token Distribution and Utility
Despite its strong ties to the Trump family, WLFI’s public token sale has shown underwhelming results. The project raised $5 million in its first hour, with initial plans to sell 20% of the token supply at a $1.5 billion fully diluted valuation (FDV), aiming for a total raise of $300 million.

Source: worldlibertyfinancial

Following lower-than-expected sales, WLFI reduced its fundraising target by 90% in early November, aiming to sell just $30 million worth of $WLFI tokens. As the project faced these fundraising difficulties, Tron founder Justin Sun stepped in on November 26 with a $30 million investment, becoming WLFI’s largest investor and joining as an advisor.

Although the adjusted fundraising target has been met, the WLFI team has not stopped the $WLFI token sale, and users can still purchase tokens on the official website. It is important to note that users must complete KYC verification before purchasing, using identification such as an ID card, passport, residence permit, or driver’s license.

It’s crucial to note that $WLFI tokens carry no economic rights and cannot be transferred. They serve one purpose only: ecosystem governance. Currently, $WLFI holders can vote on proposals, review decisions, and submit new proposals within the ecosystem.

Regarding token allocation specifics, the team has not yet offered a definitive statement. The whitepaper outlines that 35% of tokens are for public sale, 32.5% for community development and incentives, 30% for initial supporters, and 2.5% for the team and advisors. However, the actual distribution deviates from these proposed allocations.

Overview of WLFI’s Asset Portfolio

According to Arkham data, WLFI’s multi-signature wallet holds assets valued at over $74.5 million. The portfolio breakdown is as follows:

Source: Arkham

• ETH (Ethereum): Holdings total 16,480 ETH, acquired through multiple purchases. The latest acquisition occurred on December 20, when 759 ETH were bought for $2.5 million USDC at approximately $3,294 per ETH. A previous major purchase involved 8,105 ETH obtained for $30 million USDC at an average price of $3,701 per ETH.
• WBTC (Wrapped Bitcoin): 103.15 WBTC are held, with an average purchase price of around $97,087.
• AAVE: 6,137 AAVE tokens, acquired at an average price of $326 per token.
• LINK (Chainlink): 78,387 LINK tokens, purchased at an average price of $25.5.
• ENA: 741,687 ENA tokens, bought at an average price of $1.01 each.
• ONDO: 134,216 ONDO tokens, purchased at an average price of $1.86 each.

In addition to these assets, the multi-signature wallet holds approximately 3.79 million USDC and 1.57 million USDT.

Due to significant price fluctuations in the cryptocurrency market over the past few months, WLFI’s asset portfolio has seen considerable volatility. Initially, the holdings experienced substantial gains, achieving profitability on November 7. The portfolio’s profit peaked on December 17, with unrealized gains of approximately $11 million. However, the subsequent market downturn led to a sharp decline, resulting in an unrealized loss of roughly $120,000.

Source: Arkham

Examining WLFI’s current portfolio composition, beyond BTC and ETH, the remaining four cryptocurrencies fall within the decentralized finance (DeFi) space. While each serves a specialized role—LINK in oracles, ENA in stablecoins, and ONDO in real-world assets—they all share the common goal of developing products and services that advance DeFi.

WLFI is actively expanding its DeFi capabilities through strategic collaborations alongside its cryptocurrency investments. On December 13, the first community proposal passed, approving the deployment of an Aave v3 lending instance for the WLFI protocol. On December 19, WLFI announced a partnership with Ethena Labs to explore integrating sUSDe into the WLFI lending platform.

What Assets Might WLFI Acquire Next?

WLFI’s mission focuses on promoting widespread adoption of stablecoins and DeFi. Judging from its current portfolio, the WLFI team will likely maintain its DeFi-centric strategy by integrating diverse protocols and services to address users’ varying needs.

A notable aspect is WLFI’s frequent use of CowSwap for token exchanges. As a decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator, CowSwap optimizes trades by matching orders across on-chain liquidity sources using transaction intents and batch auctions. This approach delivers better prices and reduces gas fees. The platform’s increased activity appears to have affected its native token, $COW, which surged from $0.40 to $1.20 within two weeks in mid-December.

Furthermore, WLFI’s advisory team includes notable crypto industry figures such as Sandy Peng, co-founder of Scroll, and Luke Pearson, partner at Polychain. These strategic relationships may pave the way for future partnerships between WLFI and their respective organizations.

Conclusion

As a project closely tied to the Trump family, WLFI naturally draws significant media attention. Though it positions itself as a DeFi platform, it hasn’t yet delivered concrete products or services. Currently, market interest centers primarily on its investment portfolio.

Crypto users monitoring WLFI’s next moves may find trading opportunities in its portfolio changes. However, investors should treat WLFI’s holdings as just one data point among many. Successful trading requires thorough analysis and prudent risk management.