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Mother Jones illustration; Julia Demaree Nikhinson\/AP<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n One of the Trump<\/span> family\u2019s biggest crypto plays is in turmoil. Investors are furious. The value of its digital tokens is tanking. And no one seems to know what exactly is going on with its finances.<\/p>\n When it was unveiled 20 months ago, World Liberty Financial was pitched as a firm that would provide a new, blockchain-based way to bank. But it has yet to launch a consumer platform to do much of that, and the price of one of its few offerings\u2014a digital asset that would ostensibly let owners vote on the company\u2019s big financial decisions\u2014has cratered in recent weeks, losing 50 percent of its value since January. And now, following a nasty war of words, the company is being sued by one of its major investors<\/a>: erstwhile Trump-crypto super-fan Justin Sun.<\/p>\n Buyers still might be getting something valuable: the opportunity to put money directly into the first family\u2019s pockets.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n But amid the chaos, World Liberty Financial (or WLFI, for short) has emerged as one of the Trumps\u2019 most effective sources of enrichment during the 47th president\u2019s second term in office. They\u2019ve reportedly raked in more than $200 million by selling shares in the company and the tokens it produces. And even if the price of these assets falls, buyers still might be getting something valuable: the opportunity to put money directly into the first family\u2019s pockets.<\/p>\n For a lot of folks older than Barron Trump (the company\u2019s official \u201cDeFi visionary\u201d<\/a>, all this is pretty baffling stuff. So let\u2019s explain it, starting from the beginning.<\/p>\n What exactly is World Liberty Financial, anyway?<\/strong><\/p>\n World Liberty Financial was founded by the Trump family and a small group of associates\u2014including the Witkoff family\u2014in 2024, at the height of the presidential campaign, as a decentralized finance, or DeFi, company. DeFi refers to crypto-based financial services platforms that, in theory, take all of the traditional operations of a big bank and move them onto the blockchain, the digital ledger behind well-known crypto products like bitcoin.<\/p>\n The Trumps initially held as much as 86 percent of the company, but in 2025, shortly before Trump\u2019s inauguration, they sold a big chunk to the brother of the United Arab Emirates\u2019 ruler. But the Trumps still control the company and the majority of the digital governance tokens that it has issued.<\/p>\n But what does WLFI actually do<\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n Supposedly it\u2019s going to free the world from meddling, controlling, and woke banks\u2014and from Wall Street financiers. The idea behind DeFi is that most of the transactions that people currently do through banks\u2014lending and borrowing money and transferring funds, for example\u2014can be carried out on the blockchain more cheaply and transparently.<\/p>\n When the Trumps announced they were establishing World Liberty, they leaned hard into the idea that they would be liberating the masses from the \u201cfinancial elites.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the dramatic imagery, that hasn\u2019t yet happened; the company\u2019s website still says its app is \u201ccoming soon.\u201d<\/p>\n Are companies like WLFI really going to revolutionize the economy?<\/strong><\/p>\n Perhaps one day, but some experts are skeptical. Corey Freyer, director of investment protection at the Consumer Federation of America, says that the whole concept of DeFi is suspect. Theoretically, it offers a human-free way of banking, but it\u2019s extraordinarily difficult to scale a totally anonymous and automated experience in a user-friendly way, he explains.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are these huge, huge tech barriers to getting into DeFi that make it, even for the crypto-curious, ultimately, too complex,\u201d says Freyer, who was the chief crypto adviser to Gary Gensler, President Joe Biden\u2019s crypto-skeptical chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. \u201cWhat it has become useful for is money laundering and illicit financing.\u201d<\/p>\n World Liberty Financial hasn\u2019t been accused of participating in any such crimes. It hasn\u2019t done much of anything at all, other than issuing two kinds of crypto assets. (More on those below.)<\/p>\n So that means the Trumps aren\u2019t making much money from this project?<\/strong><\/p>\n LOL.<\/p>\n World Liberty Financial has been extraordinarily lucrative for the Trump family. Shortly after the company launched, it began selling something called WLFI tokens. These tokens are digital assets that (again, in theory) allow the holder to vote on key decisions made on how to run the company. They\u2019re not exactly cryptocurrency, but\u2014like a meme coin<\/a> or an NFT<\/a> (both of which Trump also markets)\u2014they can be resold. In other words, they have some value as long as someone is willing to buy them. And some people are always<\/em> willing to buy what Trump is selling. In total, the sale of the tokens has raised more than $550 million, and Trump and his family personally collected a portion of that\u2014the president\u2019s last financial disclosure<\/a> listed his take at $57 million, as of June 2025.<\/p>\n The Trump family has also cashed in another way: through sales of the company\u2019s privately held stock. While the aforementioned WLFI tokens offer holders some voting rights, they don\u2019t convey an ownership stake in the company itself. If you want a share of the business, you have to buy the company\u2019s actual stock. These shares aren\u2019t publicly listed, and when the company was created, the Trump family owned as much as 86 percent of them. But four days before Trump\u2019s January 2025 inauguration, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan\u2014the brother and national security adviser to the UAE\u2019s leader\u2014paid $500 million to purchase 49 percent of the company. According to reports<\/a>, the Trump family cleared at least $187 million from the sale.<\/p>\n Wait\u2026<\/strong>what?? Isn\u2019t that a conflict of interest?<\/strong><\/p>\n To put it mildly, yes. <\/p>\n Sheikh Tahnoon, sometimes known as the \u201cspy sheikh\u201d for his role in managing his country\u2019s intelligence efforts, has also worked for years as an intermediary in international politics. He has visited the White House and has been involved with high-level regional negotiations\u2014with the Trump administration<\/em>.<\/p>\n He\u2019s also an extremely influential investor. He chairs the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the emirate\u2019s $1 trillion<\/a> sovereign wealth fund. He has his hand in a slew of investments, including in SpaceX, Blackrock, Waymo, Sotheby\u2019s, Savage X Fenty, and the Manchester City soccer club. That\u2019s not all\u2014he\u2019s also spearheading the UAE\u2019s financial involvement in data centers and AI, through which he has invested in OpenAI, TikTok, and Affinity Partners, the investment firm run by presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner. (In 2021, Kushner also banked a $2 billion investment<\/a> in this venture from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund<\/a>).<\/p>\n One thing that World Liberty Financial has<\/em> accomplished is the creation of a stablecoin called USD1. It\u2019s a kind of cryptocurrency that\u2019s not supposed to fluctuate in value; instead, it\u2019s pegged to the price of the US dollar. Stablecoins\u2014there are quite a few\u2014are potentially useful for investors or currency traders who want to move money between different cryptocurrencies.<\/p>\n The big break for USD1 was a May 2025 agreement between an investment firm owned by Sheikh Tahnoon (who had yet to be revealed as a World Liberty investor) and Binance, the controversial crypto exchange<\/a>. In that deal\u2014just months into Trump\u2019s second term\u2014the sheikh\u2019s firm used USD1 to complete a $2 billion investment in Binance. The massive transaction gave USD1 instant credibility.<\/p>\n OK, but what\u2019s the difference between WLFI tokens and USD1?<\/strong><\/p>\n They are both digital assets issue by World Liberty, but they serve two very different purposes. Unlike USD1, the WLFI tokens aren\u2019t pegged to the dollar, which means their value can fluctuate wildly<\/a>. And overall, that value has fallen dramatically. Also unlike USD1, a WLFI token gives the holder the right to vote on matters related to the operation of the firm. In that way, it\u2019s similar to a traditional share of stock, but, again, unlike a stock, the token doesn\u2019t give you an ownership stake in the company. So a token is only useful if there is something meaningful to vote on.<\/p>\n So what exactly are the WLFI holders voting on?<\/strong><\/p>\n World Liberty Financial hasn\u2019t held many meaningful votes, notes Molly White, a prominent crypto researcher<\/a>. She estimates there have been about 10 votes in all. \u201cThere have been a [few] but not on anything major,\u201d she says. \u201cThey didn\u2019t hold a vote on whether to create the stablecoin, it\u2019s been on sort of minor things.\u201d<\/p>\n Something that arguably should have received a vote, Freyer says, is the Trumps\u2019 compensation. But that detail\u2014written into the company\u2019s founding principals, or protocol\u2014was never subjected to a token-holder plebiscite.<\/p>\n \u201cOne thing that\u2019s pretty locked down in the protocols is the share profits that the Trump Organization gets from its participation,\u201d Freyer says, noting the Trumps were guaranteed to get 75 percent of the WLFI tokens to start off with. \u201cIn most DeFi protocols, that would be the thing that you can vote on if you don\u2019t like. In this one, it\u2019s untouchable.\u201d<\/p>\n Why has the price of WLFI tokens been collapsing?<\/strong><\/p>\n WLFI first hit the market last August, at $0.45.<\/a> That turned out to be its peak price. Since then, it\u2019s fallen more than 80 percent, with a particularly dramatic plunge earlier this month. It\u2019s currently hovering a bit above 7 cents per token.<\/p>\n Some of the recent collapse seems to be linked to investor worries<\/a> about a series of loans that World Liberty Financial received from friendly companies. In exchange large cash infusions, World Liberty offered up massive amounts of WLFI tokens as collateral. Now investors are trying figure out what\u2019s going on, and their fears appear to be contributing to a downward spiral in the token\u2019s value.<\/p>\n \u201cI think a concern is that it\u2019s not clear why they would do this, and there are potentially concerning reasons,\u201d says Molly White. \u201cWhat are they doing, and why are they doing it, and is something bad happening? And I don\u2019t think it\u2019s clear.\u201d<\/p>\n Why would investors worry about these loans?<\/strong><\/p>\n This part gets pretty complicated.<\/p>\n Back when the company and all the tokens were created, there were fairly strict rules prohibiting insiders and early buyers who got big blocks of tokens from selling them off quickly. That\u2019s meant to create stability in the token\u2014to avoid the infamous \u201crug-pull<\/a>\u201d danger that crypto traders dread.<\/p>\n But some investors are starting to worry<\/a> that the World Liberty loan deals could drive down<\/a> the token price, and that fear seems to have become a self-fulfilling prophecy. These loans are indeed complex. Last summer, World Liberty\u2019s founders\u2014including CEO Zach Witkoff, the son of Donald Trump\u2019s special envoy for Middle East peace\u2014entered into a deal with a crypto services company called Alt5, a publicly traded firm. Alt5 said it would sell $1.5 billion in shares of its own company and use the proceeds to buy WLFI tokens. As part of the deal, World Liberty would get shares in Alt5, and World Liberty executives, including Eric Trump, would take over top jobs at Alt5. Neither Alt5 nor World Liberty Financial returned requests for comment.<\/p>\n More recently, World Liberty has started borrowing money<\/a> from Alt5, using WLFI tokens as collateral. It\u2019s a circuitous and not-entirely-easy-to-follow set of transactions<\/a>, but it essentially allows World Liberty to get its hands on more cash than it previously had access to.<\/p>\n World Liberty struck a similar deal<\/a> with a company called Dolomite, in which World Liberty borrowed $75 million from Dolomite and put up WLFI tokens as collateral. The two firms are independent from each other, though one of Dolomite\u2019s top executives is also an adviser to World Liberty. The transaction might be a good deal for World Liberty\u2014cash in exchange for collateral in the form of an asset it just created\u2014but for Dolomite, it seems like a risky bet on the value of WLFI tokens. Indeed, since that deal was consummated, the token price has dropped by more than 20 percent.<\/p>\n In other words, after essentially creating the WLFI tokens out of thin air, World Liberty is now using them as collateral to borrow actual money. Is it a good idea?<\/p>\n \u201cIt depends on who you ask,\u201d White says. \u201cWhether you think that\u2019s a genius financial strategy or a very questionable one<\/span>, it is a very common crypto strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n The fact that these deals were made with companies that have connections to WLFI executives is making some token-holders nervous. White says there are fears in the market that someone is trying to cash in, but, she adds, no one seems to know exactly what is going on.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, World Liberty took steps to shore up confidence<\/a>, proposing new restrictions on the sale of tokens by insiders. The company has also dismissed concerns about its dealings, saying<\/a> they are merely the product of \u201cFUD\u201d (crypto\/investor speak for \u201cfear, uncertainty, doubt\u201d).<\/p>\n So far, the token\u2019s price hasn\u2019t recovered. But Corey Freyer, the Consumer Federation of America expert, says that the token\u2019s most tangible value may be as a way to ingratiate oneself to Trump. The president receives transaction fees on the sale of tokens, which, in Freyer\u2019s view, makes them something akin to a potential \u201cStarbucks Card for presidential bribery.\u201d<\/p>\n Have any of WLFI\u2019s investors sued?<\/strong><\/p>\n Funny you should ask.<\/p>\n For months, World Liberty Financial has been engaged in a brutal fight with crypto mogul Justin Sun. Sun has always courted publicity\u2014he is the guy who spent $6 million to buy a banana taped to the wall at Art Basel<\/a>. (He ate the banana). He runs his own crypto exchanges, which attracted attention\u2014and a civil fraud lawsuit<\/a>\u2014from the Biden-era SEC. In the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, Sun sided with Trump, and shortly after the election, Sun announced he was purchasing $25 million of WLFI tokens .<\/p>\n In the days before Sheikh Tahnoon\u2019s huge investment, Sun\u2019s purchase was a major deal\u2014the first significant investment in a World Liberty project. Sun followed up with another $50 million in WLFI token purchases. He also became the top investor<\/a> in the president\u2019s separate $TRUMP meme coin.<\/p>\n By last spring, Sun had established himself as the poster boy for the crypto industry\u2019s full embrace of\u2014and investment in\u2014Trump. That embrace worked out well for the industry. The Trump administration slashed regulations and enforcement. In February 2025, the SEC agreed to put its lawsuit against Sun on hold while negotiating a settlement. A year later, Sun settled<\/a> the case for a relatively paltry $10 million.<\/p>\n Yet Sun\u2019s friendly relationship with World Liberty Financial didn\u2019t last. Last fall, when he should have been eligible to begin selling some of his WLFI tokens, World Liberty announced that it had frozen a number of accounts, including Sun\u2019s. Since then, Sun has been unable to access his tokens.<\/p>\n The company declined to explain exactly why it took that step, though it has accused Sun of engaging<\/a> in \u201cmisconduct that required World Liberty to take action to protect itself and its users.\u201d The recent turmoil involving World Liberty\u2019s loans and token price gave Sun a renewed opportunity to blast the company<\/a>, saying he was its \u201cfirst and largest victim.\u201d World Liberty Financial\u2019s X account posted a mocking response that concluded, \u201cSee you in court, pal.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n On Wednesday, Sun filed his lawsuit<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n