After months of controversy and anticipation, WLFI finally reached its defining moment. On August 26th, the Trump family's crypto project, WLFI, announced the launch of its Lockbox page, allowing holders to transfer their tokens and begin the unlocking process. On September 1st at 8:00 AM ET (8:00 PM Taiwan time), WLFI will complete its first token release, with the initial 20% of tokens officially entering circulation.
For this governance token, which was once stated in the white paper as "probably never tradable", this step almost symbolizes a turning point in the project narrative: from concept and voting to actual realization, WLFI is completing the transformation from "political symbol" to "tradable asset".
The designers behind WLFI
World Liberty Financial (WLFI) was established on September 16 last year and was guided by real estate tycoon Steve Witkoff and his son Zach. Co-founders also include crypto KOL Chase Herro and Zak Folkman.
The Trump family also features prominently, with Trump listed as the "Chief Cryptocurrency Advocate" and his sons Eric, Donald Trump Jr., and Barron as "Web3 Ambassadors."
In addition, WLFI has three technical leaders.
1. Rich Teo: Head of Stablecoins and Payments. He previously founded the itBit exchange and the stablecoin company Paxos, and currently serves as CEO of Paxos Asia. Rich also serves as an advisor to SocialFi's RepublicK project.
2. Corey Caplan: Head of technical strategy, co-founder of DeFi platform Dolomite, responsible for integrating lending and trading functions.
3. Bogdan Purnavel: Lead developer, formerly the developer of Dough Finance.
One of World Liberty Financial's first moves was to sell its own tokens. The ICO began on October 15, 2024, selling 20 billion $WLFI at a price of $0.015, earning the company approximately $300 million.
On January 20, 2025, the day of Trump's inauguration, WLFI announced a second token sale, citing "huge demand and strong interest." An additional 5 billion tokens were issued at a price of $0.05, a 230% increase from the initial sale. The second sale was completed nearly two months later, on March 14, having raised its full $250 million goal.
According to WLFI's "Gold Paper," WLFI tokens will grant holders voting rights on important matters affecting the protocol, such as upgrades. The projected token distribution includes 33.893% through the token sale, 32.6% for incentives and community development, 30% for initial backers, and 3.5% for the core team and advisors.
The project's white paper also states, "The issuance of $WLFI tokens will raise funds to purchase mainstream project tokens with growth potential. $WLFI token holders will share in the appreciation of the asset portfolio." The white paper explicitly states that users will only purchase $WLFI for governance tokens, and that the $550 million already belongs to the project.
However, the Trump family's repeated crypto investments seem to indicate that WLFI will be more than just a non-transferable token for identity verification. Now, with the opening of the Lockbox feature, WLFI's token issuance process has officially entered the "cash-out phase," with the previously sold 55 billion tokens set to be gradually released under the community governance framework.
What is the valuation of WLFI token?
On August 23rd, WLFI announced its initial unlocking rules, stating that only the token shares of early pre-sale users will be unlocked upon the initial launch of WLFI. Specifically, 20% of the WLFI purchased by each address in the $0.015 and $0.05 rounds will be unlocked, while the unlocking plan for the remaining 80% will be determined by the community through a governance vote. The token shares of the founders, team, advisors, and partners remain locked and will not be included in the initial unlocking.
The market generally believes that the launch of WLFI's circulation marks a potential moment of "price repricing." The initial 20% unlocking and release is both a test of investor attention and a potential turning point in whether WLFI's market capitalization can reach a higher range.
Based on the first round of financing valuation of US$1.5 billion (corresponding to US$0.015 per coin) and the second round valuation of US$5 billion (US$0.05 per coin), the current over-the-counter price of US$0.24 means that WLFI's valuation has increased more than 16 times in the past 8 months.
From a horizontal comparison, the market generally views WLFI as a heavyweight project comparable to the Trump Token. The latter reached a market capitalization of $80 billion upon its initial launch, while WLFI's current preliminary market capitalization forecast is close to $30 billion, leaving the market with considerable room for speculation.
Which big investors bought it?
According to a joint disclosure by Accountable.US and Bloomberg, among the top 50 WLFI addresses, at least 14 users hold coins through trading platforms restricted by the United States, holding a total of more than 6.7 billion WLFI tokens (with a market value of approximately US$335 million), and the most eye-catching holder is undoubtedly Justin Sun Sun.
In November 2024, Justin Sun Sun's TRON DAO became the largest independent investor in World Liberty Financial (WLFI), subscribing to 3 billion WLFI tokens for $30 million. According to sources familiar with the matter, the transaction price was significantly lower than the market's expected offering price of $0.015. The actual transaction price was $0.01, meaning Justin Sun invested at a substantial discount of approximately 64%. This price not only earned Sun an early investment bonus but also established his core position in the WLFI project.
Subsequently, WLFI officially announced on November 27, 2024, announcing that Justin Sun joined the project as an advisor, but there was no introduction of Justin on the WLFI official website.
Aqua1 Fund
However, a new fund recently dethroned Sun Ge from the top spot. On June 26th, Web3-native fund Aqua 1 announced a strategic purchase of $100 million in WLFI, the governance token of the Trump family's crypto project, World Liberty Financial. The purchase aims to participate in the governance of the decentralized financial platform and accelerate the development of the blockchain financial ecosystem. According to on-chain information, Aqua 1 Fund holds 800,000,000 WLFI.
In addition, Aqua 1 also plans to establish Aqua Fund in the Middle East and jointly incubate the RWA tokenization platform BlockRock with WLFI.
DWF Labs
In April 2025, DWF Labs, an Abu Dhabi-based crypto investment and market-making firm, announced that it had invested $25 million in tokens issued by World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a crypto project controlled by the Trump family.
Mike Dudas
Mike Dudas, founder of 6th Man Ventures and The Block, purchased more than $145,000 worth of WLFI tokens on the eve of Trump's inauguration on January 20, 2025. That's approximately 970,000 WLFI tokens.
Troy Murray
BarnBridge DAO member Troy Murray purchased approximately 666,000 WLFI tokens.
Sigil Fund (alias Fiskantes)
The Gibraltar-based fund's chief investment officer, known by the pseudonym "Fiskantes," spent 40 Ethereum (approximately $130,000) to purchase WLFI tokens, which, based on the WLFI issue price, is approximately 400,000 WLFI tokens.
From an untradable governance token to a lockbox-unlocked asset circulation; from a presidential ambassador to on-chain holdings; from a stablecoin financing tool to an international investment platform, WLFI presents a remarkable narrative: the convergence of political and capital forces through cryptocurrency. The initial unlock on September 1st will mark the entry point for WLFI into the real market, and a crucial moment to test whether the triple narrative of "politics, finance, and cryptocurrencies" can be fulfilled.
