Controversy As Trump Unlocks Billions In WLFI Tokens

This Monday, the World Liberty Financial (WLFI) project, supported by the president and his close associates, proceeded with the unlocking of 24.6 billion tokens. An operation that values their stake at nearly 5 billion dollars. Presented as a technical launch, this initiative fuels suspicions about Trump’s growing influence in a sector he now helps shape.

A controversial unlocking for a highly exposed project

World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a crypto project launched with the public support of Donald Trump and his sons, proceeded with a massive unlocking of 24.6 billion tokens. According to available information, 22.5 billion of these tokens are associated with the entity DT Marks DEFI LLC and “certain members of the Trump family“.

This unlocking, planned as part of the implementation of an initial circulating offering, triggered a momentary price spike of the token up to 0.40 dollars, before falling back to about 0.21 dollars. At this valuation level, the theoretical share held by the Trump family amounts to nearly 5 billion dollars.

This impressive figure is accompanied by several elements that call into question the transparency and real intentions behind the operation :

• The founders’ stakes were not supposed to be unlocked ;

• The status change, which happened without prior communication, surprised observers ;

• The extent of family holding (22.5 billion tokens out of 24.6 unlocked) reinforces suspicions about the project’s economic balance and the possible centralization of governance power in the hands of a single clan ;

• The effect on the crypto’s price, which jumped then dropped within hours, reveals the extreme volatility generated by these operations, often unclear to uninformed investors.

This first stage of circulating supply, although presented as purely technical, grants colossal valuation to the Trump family and raises questions about the initial locking commitments as well as the actual governance of the WLFI project.

A much wider and assumed crypto strategy

The World Liberty Financial affair is only one part of a much more ambitious crypto framework woven by Donald Trump and his close associates.

According to an investigation by the New Yorker published in August, Trump would have earned about 2.4 billion dollars in crypto-related revenues since 2022. This amount notably includes 243 million dollars from agreements made with the United Arab Emirates in the cryptocurrency field, as well as 1.3 billion dollars in Bitcoin via Trump Media & Technology Group.

These figures, never formally denied, provide new insight into the scale of the president’s interests in the blockchain industry.

At the same time, the Trump family is involved in the Bitcoin mining sector through the company American Bitcoin, in which Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump hold 20 % of the shares. This company is about to go public following a merger with Gryphon Digital, with a listing planned under the ticker ABTC.

It should be noted that the Winklevoss twins, founders of Gemini, are said to have invested an undisclosed amount in this structure. The growing complexity of this ecosystem triggers many reactions within the American political class. Several elected officials worry about how these financial interests could influence government decisions.

This consolidation of both public and private assets by a high-profile political figure raises questions about ethics, regulation, and risks of conflicts of interest. While the presence of political figures in crypto is not new, the scale and structuring of Trump’s crypto empire constitute a precedent. At a time when the United States is questioning crypto regulation, the central role played by the president could profoundly influence the ecosystem, for better or worse. The coming events, notably the token price evolution and the public listing of American Bitcoin, will be closely monitored by markets and institutions alike.