In an interesting bit of crypto news, World Liberty Financial is kicking off a new airdrop campaign in an effort to find early backers. The company is a decentralized finance (DeFi) venture that is owned in part by U.S. President Donald Trump.
World Liberty Financial already had its initial WLFI token sale, concluding in March of this year. More than $590 million was raised according to its website, which would make it one of the ten largest token fundraising events in the history of the cryptocurrency.
The airdrop was voted on and approved by its community weeks earlier with the aim of increasing the liquidity of USD1 – the stablecoin attached to World Liberty Financial – rewarding initial supporters, and stress-testing the distribution mechanism of the token under conditions that mirror a live market.
The $47 figure is meant to honor Trump and his term as the 47th President of the United States. This no doubt adds a bit of a cultural and political spice to what would normally be your average reward mechanism.
A “Stimulus Check” for WLFI Holders
The airdrop of USD1 is clearly a move to expand its present across a variety of blockchains. This has to do, in part, with Chainlin’s CCIP integration. Though the $47 is unlikely to change anyone’s life in a significant way, it may be enough to amplify social chatter around the project and keep holders engaged.
Given the relative newness of World Liberty Financial, it will be imperative for them to find ways to maintain a foothold in the cryptocurrency marketplace. The early fundraising numbers are impressive, but it wouldn’t be the first case of a platform or token receiving buzz only to fall apart.
What is WLFI?
WLFI is the native token of the World Liberty Financial network. It has a maximum total supply of 100 billion tokens, with 35% of it already being allocated for distribution to the public. The token was created to be a government asset and a central point for World Liberty Financial’s decentralized trading platform.
Holders of WLFI have the ability to participate on community-driven decision-making and vote on key proposals associated with the platform. The token sale launched with an allocation of 20 billion WLFI token sin October 2024, with each token priced at $0.015. During the initial token sale, only whitelisted participants were available to purchase tokens.
Because of weak demand initially, the fundraising aim of WLFI was shifted from $300 million to $30 million. But following Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election, all 20 billion WLFI tokens sold out by inauguration day. Because demand was so great, an additional five billion tokens were made available for sale.
Token-Holding
What is perhaps most interesting about WLFI is that it has seen an increase in crypto holdings since the token sale. For instance, the project spent $100,000 USDC to make a purchase of 541,242 SEI tokens at a price of $0.185 per token. That brings its total SEI holdings to more than 1 million tokens. That said, it has fallen in value. World Liberty Financial spent $225,000 to acquire those tokens and the value is now $207,000.
Market dips have had a negative impact on the cryptocurrency industry, as a whole. The project, as of March, had invested $21.6 million into buying a variety of cryptocurrencies. In addition to its purchases of SEI, it bought Ethereum (ETH, Movement (MOVE), and Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC).
As per Arkham Intelligence, the total crypto portfolio holdings of World Liberty Financial is almost $78 million. It has a nearly even distribution between USDT ($14.82 million), ETH ($15 million), and WBTC ($13.44 million). It also has $9 million in Tron (TRX), $9.4 million in staked Ethereum, and major investments in Ondo, Movement, and Usacoin.
What is USD1?
This could be big news for WLFI holders as USD1 is a fiat-backed stablecoin. These are essentially stablecoins that have a corresponding reserve that is backed by real-world assets – cash or cash equivalents – like US government treasury bills.
Stablecoins like this can be issued at a 1:1 value in terms of fiat currency. Essnetially, a USDC can be exchanged for 1 USD via Circle, USDC’s issuer. Should the value of USDC fall below $1, then there is an arbitrage opportunity available for those who purchase USDC under $1 and earn a profit when exchanging it for USD. This helps to keep fiat-backed USD stablecoins at a parity level of $1.
The design of USD1 is very similar to USDT and USDC, which are stablecoin projects with fiat backing that keeps a portion of the reserves allocated in US government treasuries. One of the major selling points of USD1 is that both its backing and reputation is associated with the highest office in the land, currently held by Donald Trump.
The key aspect of USD1’s potential success is its ability to garner institutional usage and support. USD1 does have an alternative approach compared to USDC and USDT, which both have retail uses. USD1 has a distinct aim at institutional adoption through exclusivity deals, potentially leading to retail adoption down the road.
USD1 Launch and Criticism
The stablecoin of World Liberty Financial was only recently launched, coming available in April 2025. It is backed by reserves like Treasuries and cash equivalents, as well as being pegged to the U.S. Dollar. Most notably, it has already gained traction on both centralized and decentralized platforms, Bitget and Binance the biggest among them.
WLFI has been pushing hard for memecoin trading pairs that will involve USD1. The goal is drive user engagement, particularly on decentralized platforms, and widen the overall exposure of USD1 and WLFI.
Despite that positive momentum, USD1 is facing criticism when it comes to centralization. As it stands, only three wallets have most of the circulating supply in their control, which has investors concerned about governance and liquidity risks. It was also noted that the slower adoption of USD1 compared to rivals mostly has to do with lower promotional incentives and a lack of institutional backers.
It also doesn’t help that senator Elizabeth Warren had critical statements about USD1. She cited alleged ties to controversial deals with the United Arab Emirates and argued that these connections could undermined legislative efforts. Warren further encouraged Congress to delay a bill related to cryptocurrency because she believes it could lead to greater potential misconduct.
Crypto-Related Moves By Trump-Affiliated Ventures
This is just the latest in a wave of moves involving Trump-affiliated ventures as it pertains to cryptocurrency activity. As recently as June 3, Trump Media & Technology Group officially filed with the intention to launch a spot Bitcoin ETF. There have also been rumors of an “Official Trump Wallet”, though they have been denied by both the organization and the President’s sons.
What kind of momentum World Liberty Financial will be able to generate as Trump’s presidency stretches on remains to be seen. Early returns are promising, but concerns and uncertainty will no doubt fuel speculation.
