Trump’s crypto venture rakes in $550M in token sales – Could this supercharge DeFi?

• Trump-linked WLFI sold $550M tokens to early investors 
• Project made a test WLFI token transfer, sparking speculation of a likely public offering

President Trump-linked World Liberty Financials (WLFI) has finalized its second round of token sales, bringing the total raise to $550M. 

During the first round, the DeFi project netted $300M from sold WLFI tokens and $250M in the second phase. Now, the project’s valuation is around $5 billion, as per data from ICO Drops. 

Reacting to the sales, WLFI’s Co-founder Zach Witkoff stated that the project would supercharge DeFi.

“This milestone proves that those who truly understand crypto and finance recognize what we’re building — and that WLFI is on track to supercharge DeFi as it transforms global finance in the coming years.”

What next for WLFI?

As part of its growth plan, the project has nurtured relations with key protocols and firms like Ethena, Ondo Finance, AAVE and Sui.

Here, it is worth noting that the WLFI is an instance based on Aave V3, meaning that it would have some element of lending and borrowing. 

The project also has a diversified reserve approach dubbed “Macro Strategy,” encompassing several tokens like BTC, ETH, TRX, LINK, SUI, and ONDO tokens. According to the team, the portfolio will help fund startups within the ecosystem.  

“The Macro Strategy may be used in part to enable WLFI to fund innovative projects, support ecosystem growth, and create new opportunities within the rapidly evolving DeFi landscape.”

WLFI’s top backers include Oddiyana, Web3Port, and Justin Sun’s Tron. In fact, Sun was the largest investor in the early rounds, buying a whopping $30M worth WLFI tokens last November. 

He increased his stake to $75M by January 2025, sparking allegations that he influenced the current regime to drop charges against TRON and himself by Biden-era SEC. 

That being said, the WLFI token is yet to hit public exchanges. Even so, speculations are high that the TGE (token generation event) could happen soon after a recent transfer test. According to Etherscan, a WLFI-affiliated wallet moved 47 WLFI tokens, which the crypto community assumed referred to ‘President 47’ (Trump). 

Source: Etherscan