Donald Trump and his family have earned their advancement through the cryptocurrency market. They did so through their company, World Liberty Financial (WLFI). As of Tuesday, their holdings total almost $5 billion in value, thanks to a large ownership stake in WLFI tokens. Donald Trump himself personally owns about 15.75 billion WLFI tokens — $3.4 billion worth.
In fact, the Trump family currently holds close to a quarter of the entire supply of WLFI coins. In fact, last year roughly 100 billion of these were pieced together. This venture has turned out to be very lucrative for them. They receive a percentage of the WLFI coins sales that occurred over $500 million already.
World Liberty Financial’s unusual position as both buyer and eventual seller of the WLFI token has turned heads. The firm joined another one of its publicly traded peers on the market. Together, they were able to raise a whopping $750 million from investors to purchase the digital currency. Investors voted in July to permit early purchasers—excluding founders like Donald Trump—to liquidate up to 20% of their holdings, further complicating the market dynamics of WLFI.
Currently, WLFI has a market price around $0.22 on Binance, Coinbase and other major exchanges. Unfortunately, the value of the coin has greatly tanked nearly 50% since trading started on Monday.
The Trump family started World Liberty Financial during last year’s presidential primary. Donald Trump wants the United States to be the “crypto capital of the world.” This ambitious vision has drawn encouragement and criticism from across the political spectrum.
Democrats express concern over potential Trump crypto backdealings. They brand World Liberty Financial and other endorsed tokens as doorways into corruption, conflicts of interest, and grift. Meanwhile, the Biden administration contends that token offerings like those from WLFI resemble stock sales and fall under existing regulations for publicly traded companies.
In defense of the family’s endeavors, Karoline Leavitt stated, “The media’s continued attempts to fabricate conflicts of interest are irresponsible and reinforce the public’s distrust in what they read.” She further emphasized that “Neither the President nor his family have ever engaged, or will ever engage, in conflicts of interest.”
Eric Trump added to the conversation on social media, claiming, “We’re setting a new standard for financial freedom, built on trust, speed, and U.S. values.” Together, these statements focus heavily on the family’s goal to change financial transactions as we know them with their crypto business.
World Liberty Financial’s launch and recent activities have set off furious firestorms. Now, everyone is turning their attention towards what happens when political players are allowed to invest in crypto. Observers, including industry participants, are highly focused on how this develops, especially with respect to increased regulatory scrutiny and public perception.