Key Takeaways:
- Advised by the Trump family, the DeFi project World Liberty Financial actively converts its stablecoins into ETH, with total holdings now reaching an impressive $55 million.
- This demonstrates the project’s strong belief in ETH’s growth potential, especially compared to stablecoins.
- While the project invests heavily in ETH, Trump and his son continue to make statements favoring Bitcoin, creating an intriguing contrast.
Introduction
The cryptocurrency market is witnessing some truly exciting developments. While Bitcoin continues breaking records, another “big player,” Ethereum (ETH), is attracting significant attention from a DeFi project linked to former U.S. President Donald Trump. Specifically, the World Liberty Financial (WLFI) project is quietly accumulating a large amount of ETH, leaving many surprised.
What Is World Liberty Financial?
World Liberty Financial is a DeFi project built on the Aave protocol, catching the crypto community’s attention due to its association with the Trump family. Promoted as a platform for borrowing and lending cryptocurrency with the opportunity to earn interest, the project faced challenges during its WLFI token sale in October, raising only $30 million instead of the anticipated $300 million.
World Liberty Financial
What’s Happening?
It seems that World Liberty Financial is transferring most of the funds raised from its WLFI token sale in October into ETH. This move signals the project’s strong confidence in ETH’s potential to appreciate in value compared to the U.S. dollar. Instead of holding dollars through stablecoins, they’ve chosen ETH as their primary reserve asset.
Trump’s DeFi Project: Strong Focus on ETH
On-chain data reveals that World Liberty Financial, a DeFi project advised by the Trump family, recently spent $5 million purchasing ETH on the DEX platform CoW Swap. This brought their total ETH holdings to an impressive $55 million, which accounts for over 76% of the project’s total assets. Their remaining assets include $10.3 million in cbBTC, $3 million in USDT, $1.5 million in USDC, along with $1 million each in AAVE and LINK, and smaller amounts in various altcoins.
Reasons for the Shortfall
Several factors likely contributed to this outcome, including:
- WLFI tokens were not tradable during the first year.
- Buyers were required to undergo KYC processes.
- The project offered no groundbreaking features, functioning as a standard lending platform.
A Turning Point Thanks to Justin Sun
The project received a lifeline in the form of a $30 million investment from crypto mogul Justin Sun. Sun’s involvement brought not just funding but also strategic advice and valuable experience—key factors for the project’s revival.
World Liberty Financial Gets Fund Injection From Justin Sun
Contradictions in Statements and Actions
A Curious Approach
Curiously, World Liberty Financial actively buys-off ETH while the project consultants, Donald Trump and his son Eric Trump, have not made a secret of their belief and support for Bitcoin. As some may recall, Donald Trump vowed that if he were to receive the presidency once again then Bitcoin would surge in such a scenario.
The result is an apparent contradiction that has led many to question what, if anything, the real strategy of the Trump family in the cryptocurrency market could be.
Trump’s Crypto Wallet
Adding another twist, Trump’s crypto wallet, previously used to sell NFTs, has appreciated due to memecoin airdrops from the crypto community. Trump’s wallet still holds $3.7 million in ETH and over 138,000 USDC.
More News: Donald Trump Appointed Crypto Advocate Paul Atkins To Lead SEC
Numbers that Tell a Story
Here’s a breakdown of key holdings:
Coin Type | Estimated Quantity | Value (USD) |
ETH | 14,571 | 55,000,000 |
LINK | 41,335 | 1,000,000 |
AAVE | 3,357 | 1,000,000 |
cbBTC | – | 10,300,000 |
USDT | – | 3,000,000 |
USDC | – | 1,500,000 |
Expert and Community Insights
Analysts believe World Liberty Financial’s shift from stablecoins to ETH indicates the project’s ambition to build a more expansive crypto ecosystem. Some experts speculate that the project might be betting on ETH becoming a better reserve asset than the U.S. dollar. Ethereum investor and advisor Eric Conner noted, “The Trump family is clearly swapping stablecoins for ETH instead of holding onto them.”
Lessons Learned
Market Volatility
This event highlights the cryptocurrency market’s inherent volatility and unpredictability. Projects often adjust their strategies based on market conditions and emerging opportunities. It’s particularly interesting that a politically connected project would choose ETH over Bitcoin despite publicly supporting the latter.
Opportunities and Risks
The crypto market remains a “playground” full of opportunities but not without risks. The story of World Liberty Financial serves as a prime example. Whether their ETH accumulation will lead to success remains to be seen.
This article first appeared at CryptoNinjas