World Liberty Financial Inc. (WLFI), a decentralized finance (DeFi) project backed by the Trump family, has concluded its second public token sale, raising $250 million from investors. This follows the project’s launch on September 16, 2024, aimed at promoting DeFi and stablecoins pegged to the U.S. dollar.
Endorsed by former President Donald Trump and his sons—Eric, Donald Jr., and Barron—WLFI positions itself as a pioneer in financial innovation, seeking to shift investors away from traditional banking systems. To date, the project has raised approximately $550 million by selling 25% of its total crypto asset supply.
The first token sale, which commenced on October 15, 2024, generated around $300 million by selling 20 billion WLFI tokens at $0.015 each. Following significant demand, WLFI announced a second round of sales on January 20, 2025, offering 5 billion tokens at $0.05 each—a staggering 230% increase in price from the initial sale. This sale concluded on March 14, successfully meeting its $250 million target.
Even prior to the public sales, WLFI had attracted considerable investments from notable figures in the crypto industry. On November 25, 2024, Tron founder Justin Sun invested $30 million in WLFI, receiving 2 billion tokens in return. Additionally, investment platform Web3Port announced a $10 million investment on January 27, 2025, with plans for further purchases and a potential long-term partnership.
Venture capital firm Oddiyana Ventures also announced a strategic investment in WLFI on February 11, though the amount was not disclosed.
Community Concerns Emerge
Despite the substantial fundraising, some members of the crypto community have raised concerns about the legitimacy of WLFI’s business model. Critics, including 6MV managing partner Mike Dudas, labeled the project a “pay-to-play” scheme rather than a genuine gateway to DeFi. Andre Cronje, creator of Yearn.finance, questioned the project’s high fees and reinvestment strategies, suggesting it extracts value from other crypto firms without providing significant utility.
On Saturday, WLFI also made headlines by purchasing $2 million each of Avalanche (AVAX) and Mantle (MNT) tokens, despite experiencing substantial losses in its investment portfolio. Data from Arkham Intelligence indicates that WLFI acquired over 103,000 AVAX tokens and 2.45 million MNT tokens. Its total portfolio now includes 11 digital assets, with Ethereum representing the largest position and accounting for $88 million in losses.
Recent analyses show that WLFI has invested approximately $343 million in its holdings and is facing unrealized losses of around $118 million. Following the completion of its second token sale, WLFI announced a partnership with the Sui Foundation, intending to integrate Sui assets into its strategic token reserve and co-develop new products.
Moreover, reports from the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg indicate that WLFI has been in discussions with Binance regarding potential business ventures, including the development of a stablecoin. However, both WLFI and Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao have denied any concrete business deals, calling the reports politically motivated and unfounded.
Shogun Lin
