Topline
A digital token launched by World Liberty Financial—the crypto venture President Donald Trump and his family co-founded—is trading at five to 15 times what early backers paid, despite falling about 25% from its high on its market debut Monday.
The decentralized finance platform debuted in September 2024 and began selling non-transferable tokens the following month at $0.015 each to foreign or accredited investors.
A second round priced tokens at $0.05, and by July 3, nearly 2,000 investors had bought in, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
The non-transferable tokens are not backed by any underlying assets and do not convey ownership in the company itself, but allow holders to propose and vote on rule changes regarding the protocol.
In July, holders voted to allow limited trading: investors who purchased tokens in the $0.015 and $0.05 rounds would be able to sell 20% of their holdings, though founders—including Trump—remain locked out.
The token, called $WLFI, hit $0.31 shortly after public trading began Monday, and quickly slid to a low of $0.21 on Monday afternoon, before going back up a bit to $0.23 Tuesday afternoon, according to CoinGecko, a cryptocurrency data tracker.
The slide bottomed out around the time the company issued a governance proposal to implement a “buyback and burn” program, using trading fees to buy back tokens and remove them from circulation.
Spokespeople for World Liberty Financial did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
World Liberty Financial says it was “inspired by the vision of Donald J. Trump” and lists him as its co-founder emeritus. Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Baron Trump are also credited as co-founders. At launch, the company created 100 billion $WLFI tokens, giving 22.5 billion to DT Marks DEFI LLC—Trump owns 70% of that company, with his family members owning the remainder. The LLC’s equity in World Liberty Financial fell from 75% in December to about 38% today, though the reason isn’t clear; it also receives 75% of token-sale proceeds after deductions.
Probably nothing—yet. World Liberty Financial explicitly stated, “Founders, team, and advisor tokens will not be unlocked initially and will be subject to a longer unlock schedule than early supporters.”
The unlocking schedule for the 80% of tokens still off-limits will be decided in a community vote, though no date has been set—a decision that will determine when the Trumps can start cashing in.
Early investors profiting while later retail buyers lose money is not unusual in Trump’s crypto ventures. Citing blockchain analysis by Chainalysis, the Washington Post reported in May that 58 investors in Trump’s meme coin (a different venture)—nearly all of whom bought on the project’s launch day—each made more than $10 million while roughly 764,000 mostly small holders lost money.
$57.4 million: That’s what Trump reported earning from World Liberty Financial in his latest financial disclosure, which appears to cover around 12 months ending in December 2024. The company only debuted in September.
Forbes estimates Donald Trump is worth about $6 billion, with much of his wealth coming from his shares in Trump Media.
Trump’s Crypto Firm Raised $52 Million—Likely Sending Millions To His Family, New Disclosure Reveals (Forbes)
President Trump’s Crypto Firm Expands Relationship With Embattled Blockchain Billionaire (Forbes)
Trump Org Applies For Sweeping Trademark Covering Items From Crypto Wallet To Virtual Cologne (Forbes)
SEC Drops Binance Lawsuit Days After Crypto Exchange Lists Trump’s Stablecoin (Forbes)