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Author: Ye Zhen, Wall Street News
A crypto project deeply tied to the Trump family is pushing its tokens to the open market, which is not only a big event in the crypto world, but also the ultimate test of Trump’s influence in the field of fintech.
Just today (September 1), the World Liberty Financial project, which is publicly supported by the Trump family, will officially start trading of its governance token.At 12 noon UTC, the Token Generation Event (TGE) will be launched, and early investors can unlock and sell 20% of the total tokens they hold, accounting for about 5% of the total supply.
This debut will be held on mainstream cryptocurrency exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase, and the market is paying great attention to this.Based on the current futures price of $0.20 to $0.30, WLFI’s fully diluted valuation has exceeded $40 billion, enough to rank among the top 45 cryptocurrencies in market value..
It is estimated that the value of tokens Trump himself held through related entities alone may exceed $6 billion, exceeding Forbes’ previous estimate of its net assets.
This series of actions comes at a time when the Trump family is growing in the crypto field.Since Trump returned to the White House, he has signed a stablecoin bill and his son has also been deeply involved in crypto business.The launch of WLFI transactions will be the first comprehensive inspection of this innovative financial product with a strong political color.
What exactly is WLFI?
WLFI is a governance token for the decentralized financial project World Liberty Financial, with a total supply of 100 billion pieces.The project was founded last September by real estate giant Steve Witkoff and his son Zach, and its co-founders include crypto-based activists Chase Herro and Zak Folkman.
The Trump family occupies a central position in the project.Trump himself was listed as a “retired” member and “chief cryptocurrency advocate” on the project website, and his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump served as “Web3 ambassadors.”DT Marks DEFI LLC, an entity associated with the president and family members, owns 38% of the shares of World Liberty Financial Holdings and holds 22.5 billion WLFI tokens.
The project technical team is also very interesting, including Rich Teo, founder of stablecoin company Paxos, and Corey Caplan, co-founder of DeFi platform Dolomite.
How high is the valuation of this token?
The market expects very high valuation of WLFI.
WLFI tokens raised a total of US$550 million in two rounds of token sales in October 2024 and January 2025.On decentralized platforms such as Whales Market that provide pre-online trading, WLFI’s futures price has been traded in the range of US$0.20 to US$0.30.
According to Cryptonews, WLFI’s full dilution valuation (FDV) has exceeded US$40 billion if calculated based on current futures prices.The Trump-related entity DT Marks DEFI LLC holds 22.5 billion WLFI tokens, of which the 15.75 billion tokens held by Trump are expected to be worth more than $6 billion.This figure suggests that digital assets may have become an important part of Trump’s wealth structure.
What’s special about the design of this project?
It was mentioned earlier,WLFI’s huge valuation is mainly based on its trinity design of “financial cornerstone, market game and macro narrative”.
First of all, it is its solid financial foundation.According to the analysis of the official account “Weisman Notes”, the stablecoin USD1 in the WLFI ecosystem is 100% supported by high-credit real-world assets (RWA), of which about 85% are government money market funds.Its reserves are the responsibility of BitGo, a custodial agency regulated by the United States, and are issued an independent assurance report by accounting firm Crowe LLP. WLFI is only used as a brand party.This “separation of operation and brand” design greatly reduces systemic risks.
The second is the unique market game mechanism.Nasdaq-listed company ALT5 Sigma reportedly promised to acquire up to $750 million in WLFI tokens.According to ALT5’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the acquisition promise “without specific time and price restrictions” is seen by an analyst from The Block as a “strategic arsenal” serving long-term goals, which can be used to stabilize prices or deter shorts when markets fluctuate.
Finally, it is its macro narrative.WLFI is seen as a model for showing “U.S. compliance innovation” to global regulators.Against the current backdrop of the United States promoting cryptocurrency compliance, this identity, which is deeply bound to regulatory orientation, has given WLFI a huge “regulatory certainty” premium.
Why only 20% of the tokens are released?
Under the unlocking rules, only early investors who purchase tokens in pre-sales can unlock 20% of their holdings, while the share of founders, teams and consultants will remain locked.This arrangement is seen by the market as a careful strategic design.
Messari analyst Dylan Bane calls this a “standard circulation disk management strategy.”He said in an interview with Bloomberg,By limiting early liquidity, project parties can reduce short-term selling pressure, thereby maintaining price stability and enhancing market perception.”
However, some traders have different opinions.Morten Christensen, a trader who owns WLFI tokens, believes thatLow circulation trading is easier to raise prices”, he called it “a good, explosive cocktail.”
The expectations of retail investors also diverged, with some small holders planning to sell when the price reaches 47 cents, while large holders expect prices to reach $1 or more, and some even joked that the goal was to buy a Lamborghini.
Who is the big player?
WLFI’s investor list brings together capital and industry influence.
In addition to the Trump family entity holding huge tokens, according to information jointly disclosed by Accountable.US and Bloomberg,Tron founder Justin Sun is one of the largest independent investors in the project.TRON DAO, which it controlled, subscribed 3 billion WLFI tokens for US$30 million in November 2024, with a transaction price of only US$0.01, far lower than the market price at that time.
Recently, Web3 native fund Aqua1 Fund announced a strategic purchase of WLFI worth $100 million, with its on-chain address holding 800 million tokens, replacing Justin Sun as one of the largest external coin holding addresses.
In addition, Abu Dhabi’s market maker DWF Labs also spent US$25 million to purchase the token.Other well-known investors include Mike Dudas, founder of 6th Man Ventures, and others.
What risks and disputes exist?
Despite its exquisite design, the launch of WLFI is still accompanied by risk and ethical scrutiny.
According to CryptoNews, the GENIUS Act, which was signed by Trump to regulate stablecoins, does not contain any precautionary clauses related to conflicts of interest, which has led to the simultaneous launch of WLFI, which is deeply involved in his family, raising concerns from the outside world about the underlying ethical issues behind it.
For investors, WLFI presents a unique risk-return feature: its systemic collapse risk has dropped significantly due to a solid RWA foundationLow, but market game risks, as well as the macro policy shift towards risks that are highly dependent on their value, have become the new focus of attention.
The long-term value of a project depends not only on its own operations, but also closely related to the unpredictable political and regulatory directions.With the official launch of the transaction, the market will usher in the first comprehensive inspection of this composite financial innovative product.
