A Forbes investigation reveals that cryptocurrency exchange Binance currently controls nearly 87% of the circulating supply of USD1, a stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial, the Trump family's crypto project. This concentration is higher than the proportion of any major stablecoin held by a single exchange. This finding has not only sparked discussions about the risks and concentration of stablecoins, but has also brought renewed attention to Trump's pardon of Binance founder CZ(CZ), and the increasingly close network of interests between Binance, the Trump family, and the UAE royal family.
Forbes reveals: Binance holds nearly 90% of the circulating supply of USD1.
Forbes, citing data from blockchain analytics platform Arkham, reported that as of early February, Binance held approximately $4.7 billion worth of USD1 through its own wallets and user accounts, representing about 87% of its total supply of $5.4 billion. This is the highest percentage of a single stablecoin held by a single exchange among the top ten stablecoins.
Independent cryptocurrency researcher Molly White pointed out that such a high degree of concentration is not only rare, but also indicates that the circulation and liquidity of USD1 largely depend on the Binance ecosystem.
USD1 is issued by World Liberty Financial (WLF), a crypto company backed by the Trump family, and is backed by assets such as the US dollar and US Treasury bonds. Since stablecoin reserve assets can generate interest income from Treasury bonds, the project's potential cash inflows increase as the issuance scales.
No transaction fees and promotional rewards: How Binance is driving the rapid expansion of the USD1
The article analyzes the key role Binance played in the growth of USD1. At the end of 2025, Binance announced that it would waive transaction fees for trading other stablecoins against USD1. Subsequently, it launched a limited-time USD1 active account yield program with an APY of 20%, and distributed governance tokens $WLFI worth approximately $40 million to users holding USD1.
The report points out that these incentives, directly or indirectly, allowed USD1 to rapidly accumulate scale in a short period and become deeply embedded in Binance's platform. WLF spokesperson David Wachsman and COO Zak Folkman responded that promotional activities are quite common in the industry.
Any suggestion that Binance can control or influence WLF is completely unfounded, and we have also conducted promotional activities on other exchanges.
The amnesty of CZ and the shift in regulation raise questions about the relationship between politics and business.
The relationship between Binance and Trump has also attracted much attention due to its political background. Binance founder CZ admitted in 2023 to failing to effectively implement anti-money laundering mechanisms and served four months in prison. However, after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission withdrew its civil lawsuit against Binance in 2025, and Binance officially listed and vigorously promoted USD1, CZ received a pardon from Trump in October of the same year.
Although both Binance and the White House have denied any connection between the amnesty and the business partnership, politicians, led by Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, believe that the high degree of overlap in the timing is enough to raise suspicions of a potential conflict of interest.
With the involvement of UAE capital, a three-way network of interests has taken shape.
Further amplifying the scale of USD1 was the participation of UAE state capital. Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund MGX invested approximately $2 billion equivalent in USD1 in Binance, and its chairman, Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, was also revealed to have invested in WLF and obtained a board seat.
This move not only boosted the market capitalization and visibility of USD1, but also created an intertwined interest structure between Binance, the Trump family, and UAE capital.
( Wall Street Journal: UAE royal family member controls nearly half of Trump's cryptocurrency WLFI )
With Trump simultaneously serving as President of the United States and a key figure in the WLF, the connection has attracted attention from Congress and the market. The ongoing investigation will undoubtedly bring this network of relationships between the political and economic spheres to the forefront.
This article, which discusses Binance's control of 87% of the circulating supply of the Trump family's USD1 stablecoin and Forbes' revelation of a network of vested interests, first appeared on ABMedia, a ABMedia platform.
