Trump family project WLFI suffers coordinated attack! Hackers breach co-founder's account to spread FUD and short the short heavily; USD1 briefly decouples before stabilizing.

On the morning of February 23, 2026 ( US time), World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a cryptocurrency project closely associated with the Trump family, issued a statement indicating that its stablecoin USD1 had been the target of an organized and coordinated attack. The attackers allegedly compromised the co-founders' community accounts, spread panic messages, and massively shorted USD1 tokens, attempting to profit from market volatility. However, the official statement emphasized that the attack ultimately failed to undermine USD1's $1 parity mechanism, and the incident was quickly quelled.

Account hacking and air dumping: Attack methods exposed

According to WLFI's official explanation, the attack process consists of three stages:

• Hacking into co-founder's account: The hacker first gained control of co-founder X's (formerly Twitter) account and posted or retweeted misleading content.
• Amplifying market panic: Spreading FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) messages through paid KOLs and influencers to amplify negative public opinion.
• Short selling in the derivatives market: Simultaneously establishing large short positions in the market in an attempt to profit from price declines.

WLFI points out that this type of attack is a common combination of "social engineering + financial manipulation" in the crypto market, with the goal of creating a crisis of trust and liquidity pressure in a short period of time.

USD1 stabilizes at parity: Quickly recovers after brief decoupling

Following the incident, the price of the $WLFI token fell by approximately 8%. USD1 experienced brief fluctuations on some exchanges, with Binance briefly touching around $0.98, resulting in a temporary decoupling of about 2%.

However, officials stated that thanks to a robust mint-and-redeem mechanism and 1:1 reserve backing (including highly liquid assets such as US Treasury bonds and cash), USD1 recovered to parity with the US dollar within minutes. Overall market liquidity did not spiral out of control.

Team member @0xDylan_ also added that USD1 was fully compliant and fully collateralized, and the attack was "sophisticated but unsuccessful".

Market competition under politically sensitive circumstances

WLFI has close ties to the Trump family, with participants including Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. The project launched the USD1 stablecoin in 2025 and quickly expanded on public chains such as Solana and Ethereum, integrating DeFi applications and gaining widespread market exposure.

Due to its strong political nature, WLFI has long been under intense scrutiny and public scrutiny, with issues such as overseas investment and asset tokenization having sparked public discussion. Market analysts believe that the timing of this attack, coinciding with WLFI's recent release of several positive messages (including forum recaps and academic lectures), may have provided the attackers with the opportunity to strike.

From Crisis to Resilience Test: Stablecoin Trust Mechanisms Under Renewed Examination

Overall, this incident highlights long-standing risks in the crypto market: hacking, manipulation of public opinion, and derivatives market manipulation can work together to amplify panic in a very short time. However, USD1 did not experience a substantial decoupling; instead, it demonstrated some resilience during stress tests.

Currently, mainstream market observers generally cite WLFI's official statement, believing this to be an unsuccessful FUD offensive. As prices stabilize, market sentiment has gradually calmed down.

For investors, this incident serves as a reminder that in highly volatile markets, it is essential to rely on official verification channels and avoid following unverified information. This is especially true in an environment where stablecoins and derivatives are highly interconnected, requiring careful risk assessment.