Trump-backed World Liberty Financial completes $550 million token sale

Key Takeaways

• World Liberty Financial raised $550 million in a token sale, backed by Trump.
• The decentralized finance platform plans to use the funds for development and expansion.

World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a DeFi project endorsed by President Donald Trump and his sons, has finalized its token sale today, securing $550 million in funding, according to an update on WLFI’s official website .

Launched last September, WLFI is focused on promoting decentralized finance and US dollar-pegged stablecoins to maintain the dollar’s prominence in global finance. Its core feature is a DeFi lending platform, similar to Aave, operating on the Ethereum blockchain and supporting Bitcoin, Ethereum, and stablecoins.

The project’s governance token, WLFI, began its public sale on October 15, with a goal of raising $300 million. The initial sale was for 20 billion tokens, priced at $0.015 each, and was limited to whitelisted individuals .

However, the initial sale underperformed, raising only $11 million from the sale of 766 million tokens. Due to weak demand, the team lowered their target to $30 million .

The token sale took a turn following the launch of Official Trump (TRUMP), Trump’s official token, and Melania Meme (MELANIA). The success of these meme coins led to increasing interest in the Trump-related crypto space, including WLFI.

The initial token sale of World Liberty Financial was closed by January 20, with 20% of the token supply being sold.

Seeing the increased demand, the project released an additional 5 billion WLFI tokens on January 20, priced at $0.05 each. By March 13, 99% of the additional tokens had been sold.

WLFI holders can participate in decisions related to the WLF Protocol. The tokens are non-transferable for the first 12 months after launch.

The project is fronted by Donald Trump’s sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., with Barron Trump designated as the “DeFi visionary.” However, the project’s whitepaper explicitly states that the Trump family does not own or manage the project, though they may receive compensation.

Tron founder Justin Sun is one of the largest WLFI investors. Sun purchased $30 million worth of World Liberty Financial (WLFI) tokens late last November, becoming the largest investor in the project at the time.

Later, on January 19, he increased his investment by an additional $45 million, bringing his total stake to $75 million.