World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency project associated with the Trump family, made its market debut. Although its core token WLFI quickly fell back after a brief surge and performed below expectations, this did not affect the Trump family's ability to lock in huge profits.
On Monday, September 1st, the highly anticipated WLFI token officially launched for trading on major cryptocurrency exchanges including Binance, Bybit, and OKX. The token opened at 20 cents and quickly soared to a high of approximately 40 cents within five minutes of opening, but the gains subsequently narrowed significantly. As of now, its price has fallen back to around 23 cents, performing below expectations.
Wall Street Journal previously mentioned that according to the rules, approximately 35,000 early buyers who purchased tokens for a total of approximately $550 million before this spring were allowed to sell 20% of their holdings on Monday. Because their purchase cost was far lower than the opening price, many chose to take profits immediately.
However, the token's secondary market performance did not affect the Trump family's profits. The New York Times reported that disclosure documents revealed an "unusual internal arrangement" with Nasdaq-listed Alt5 Sigma Corporation, resulting in potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in direct cash benefits for Trump family entities. In short, the Trump family profited from the special arrangement, not from the token's price fluctuations. Alt5 invested $1.5 billion in WLFI, with 75% of the sales proceeds going directly to the Trump family, instantly locking up hundreds of millions of dollars in cash.
Special internal arrangements locked in the Trump family's huge profits
Despite the lackluster market debut, the Trump family's massive gains were secured through another channel, according to the New York Times. According to World Liberty's disclosure documents, this was thanks to an unusual agreement with Nasdaq-listed Alt5 Sigma Corporation.
In August, Alt5 announced the appointment of Zach Witkoff, co-founder of World Liberty Financial, as its chairman. Eric Trump, son of President Trump, joined the board of directors, and Zachary Folkman, another executive, became a board observer. These appointments gave three World Liberty executives leadership positions within Alt5.
Along with announcing the leadership changes, Alt5 also disclosed plans to use the $1.5 billion it raised to purchase WLFI when it begins trading on Monday. In a statement Monday, World Liberty confirmed the sale of over 7.5 billion tokens, representing approximately 8% of the total supply, to Alt5. The transaction was the largest token sale in the market that day.
According to the project's founding agreement, in return for Trump's endorsement and family involvement in management, a Trump family entity called DT Marks DEFI is entitled to receive 75% of the net proceeds from the $WLFI token sale. This sale to Alt5 is expected to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in cash proceeds for the Trump family.
Conflict of interest disputes and market reactions
The close corporate ties between Alt5 and World Liberty have drawn scrutiny over potential conflicts of interest.
John Reed Stark, a lawyer who worked at the SEC for two decades, said the most surprising thing about this series of business operations is the Trump family's openness about its money-making efforts.
“They have a clear conflict of interest with the presidential role,” Stark said. “But what’s remarkable is that everything they do is out in the open. In the past, these connections would have been hidden, but now the presidential family is displaying them like a badge of honor.”
Trump's sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., both celebrated WLFI's listing on social media on Monday. Eric Trump, who is visiting Japan, previously attended two cryptocurrency-related events in Hong Kong to promote his company's products.
Meanwhile, some industry news outlets have reported that the project's relationship with Alt5 may be under scrutiny by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), though Alt5 has denied these reports. Neither Eric Trump nor World Liberty responded to requests for comment as of Monday.
Book wealth of $5 billion, but liquidity is limited
With the launch of WLFI, the Trump family’s cryptocurrency wealth has taken a leap on paper. As of Monday afternoon, the 2.25 billion WLFI tokens it controls are worth approximately $5 billion.
The partners’ holdings are also valuable. The Witkoff family and other investors, including Chase Herro and Zachary Folkman, each control 3.75 billion tokens, with a combined value of about $1.7 billion based on Monday’s closing price.
However, this wealth currently exists only on paper. World Liberty announced on Monday that the tokens held by the management team, including the Trump family, the Witkoff family, and other partners, are currently locked up and cannot be sold on the open market.
