Trump's World Liberty Reportedly Explores Token Swap Deals
World Liberty Financial, with Trump’s backing, may be looking to offer token swap deals where projects buy $10M in WLFI tokens, plus 10% fees, and World Liberty buys an equal amount of the project's token, Blockworks reports.
What's the scoop?
- Valuation and Launch: The WLFI tokens will be transferred at a $1.5B fully diluted valuation, and the platform is slated to launch in Q3. The deal requires a minimum buy-in of $10M, with priority treatment reserved for investments of $15M or more.
- World Liberty Financial Response: While not directly responding to Blockworks's reporting, the company's official account noted Monday that it was moving fund around but was not issuing sales of the token.
- Trump Family Involvement: President Trump’s son Eric sits on the board, and a Trump-affiliated LLC is set to receive 60% of the project’s equity and 75% of the fee revenue.
- Wallet Holdings: Data from the public crypto wallet show ~$360M in holdings, with ETH representing roughly half of these assets alongside other tokens.
- Process and Background: Token swap candidates will first attend a meeting, followed by a video call with co-founder Zak Folkman, previously of Dough Finance, which faced a $2M hack in July 2024.
Bankless Take:
It seems WLFI’s either woken up to its market impact or has just reached a point where it now wants to monetize its current role. Take, for example, the recent announcement of MOVE tokens by WLFI, which spiked the token’s market cap by ~$400M at its peak. Thus, if a project enters into this swap and its token jumps enough that an entity or set of entities can capitalize on, it could potentially net them more than the initial $10M buy-in. Regardless, WLFI clearly has a firm grasp on its ability to drive value, even if just for a quick jump.
David C Jan 28, 2025 • 1 min read