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What Is World Liberty Financial? What to Know About The Trump Family's Crypto Firm
•February 10, 2026
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Companies Mentioned
Why It Matters
The banking charter would give World Liberty Financial access to the U.S. payments system, potentially legitimizing its stablecoin and expanding revenue streams. Its political ties also raise regulatory and reputational risks that could influence broader crypto‑bank integration.
Key Takeaways
- •Applied for national banking charter via World Liberty Trust
- •Launched WLFI Markets for crypto lending and borrowing
- •WLFI token fell to 11 cents from 33-cent peak
- •Holds stake in ALT5 Sigma after $750M token swap
- •Congressional scrutiny over political ties and foreign investment
Pulse Analysis
World Liberty Financial represents one of the most high‑profile attempts to blend celebrity politics with decentralized finance. By positioning its USD 1 stablecoin and the WLFI token as the backbone of a DeFi lending platform, the venture seeks to attract retail investors who are drawn to both brand recognition and the promise of earning yields without traditional intermediaries. The involvement of former President Donald Trump, his sons, and longtime real‑estate partners adds a layer of name‑value that few crypto projects can match, while also raising questions about the separation of political influence from financial product design.
Securing a national banking charter through its World Liberty Trust subsidiary could transform the firm from a niche DeFi experiment into a regulated financial institution. A charter would grant access to the U.S. payments infrastructure, allowing the stablecoin to be backed by Treasury‑grade assets and to offer services such as clearing, custody, and loan underwriting under federal oversight. This hybrid model blurs the line between crypto issuers that operate in a regulatory gray zone and traditional banks, potentially setting a precedent for other politically connected or celebrity‑driven token projects seeking legitimacy.
The WLFI token’s slide from a 33‑cent high to roughly 11 cents reflects both market volatility and investor wariness over the firm’s political entanglements. Congressional inquiries and a reported foreign‑royal stake have added reputational risk, which could deter institutional capital despite the potential revenue stream from stablecoin‑backed interest. Nonetheless, if the banking charter materializes and the platform scales, World Liberty Financial could influence how stablecoins are integrated into mainstream finance, prompting regulators to refine rules for hybrid crypto‑bank entities.
What Is World Liberty Financial? What to Know About The Trump Family's Crypto Firm
Key Takeaways
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World Liberty Financial, the Trump family's crypto business, in January applied for a national banking license and launched an interface allowing users to borrow and earn points.
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It is an “experiment into the convergence of politics, finance, and blockchain technology,” a crypto research firm says.
Investopedia Answers
The Trump family has a range of business interests—including a crypto company with big financial ambitions.
The company, World Liberty Financial, has a lending market called WLFI Markets. It has applied for a national banking charter through its World Liberty Trust subsidiary. And it bills itself as a DeFi (decentralized finance) ecosystem, which broadly means it seeks to remove middlemen from financial transactions.
World Liberty Financial was founded by President Donald Trump, his sons, the president’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, and Witkoff’s sons. Its USD 1 stablecoin, which aims to stay pegged to the U.S. dollar, is at the center of the Trump family’s crypto venture—as is its token WLFI, which was recently trading around 11 cents, a fraction of its peak around 33 cents since its September launch.
WHY THIS MATTERS TO INVESTORS
World Liberty Financial offers a token and a stablecoin, but it has also signaled efforts to get into broader financial services.
WLFI Markets lets users borrow and lend against digital assets using USD 1. The app isn’t available everywhere in the U.S., including New York. But if it gains traction, it could boost the circulating supply of USD 1 and, potentially, the interest income generated by the assets that back it.
As a nationally chartered bank, World Liberty Trust would move from the fringes of payments into the central plumbing. Most stablecoin issuers make money from the interest earned on the assets backing the coins, generally including U.S. Treasurys, but if it were to also be a bank it could offer, and charge for, a range of financial services (think payments, clearing, asset custody, and the like).
While the company has obvious political associations, World Liberty Financial, the WLF Protocol and WLFI tokens are “not political,” per the company’s white paper. That document shows that an entity called DT Marks DEFI LLC received 22.5 billion WLFI tokens and a right to receive 75 % of the project’s revenue. That entity is connected to undisclosed Trump family members and the president through a series of holding companies, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The company also owns a stake in ALT5 Sigma (ALTS) after exchanging $750 million in WLFI tokens for 1 million ALT5 shares and warrants to buy an additional 99 million shares. Eric Trump, the president’s younger son, is a director on ALT5’s board—though only in an “observer” position in order to comply with Nasdaq rules. Zach Witkoff, a co‑founder of World Liberty, is chairman of ALT5. (WLFI also recently loaned ALT5 money to buy back shares; ALT5 has a stated goal of acquiring more WLFI tokens.)
The company has led to scrutiny for President Trump. Congressional Democrats in a November report said the president “leveraged his office to make himself a crypto billionaire.” More recently, The Wall Street Journal reported that the company sold a large stake to a foreign royal, which a Democratic senator has pledged to investigate.
“Neither President Trump nor Steve Witkoff had any involvement whatsoever in this transaction and have had no involvement in World Liberty Financial since taking office,” a company spokesperson said via email. “We made the deal in question because we strongly believe that it was what was best for our company as we continue to grow.”
Crypto research firm Arkham calls World Liberty Financial an “experiment into the convergence of politics, finance, and blockchain technology.”
“Cash flow is king.”
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