World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a cryptocurrency project backed by President-elect Donald Trump, has made major crypto purchases.
According to blockchain data, WLFI’s wallet recorded $12 million in transactions on 12 December, mostly to buy Ethereum ($ETH).
The project spent $10 million to buy 2,631 $ETH at an average price of $3,801 per token. This brought WLFI’s total Ethereum holdings to over 14,500 $ETH, now worth more than $56 million. After the purchase, Ethereum’s price went up by 6.86% in just one day.
WLFI also invested $1 million each in Chainlink ($LINK) and Aave ($AAVE). It bought 41,335 $LINK tokens at $24.2 each and 3,357 $AAVE tokens at $297 each.
Both $LINK and $AAVE saw their prices jump after these purchases, with $LINK rising over 20% and $AAVE climbing more than 33% in a day.
These purchases followed a $30 million investment in WLFI by TRON founder Justin Sun, who is now an advisor to the project.
Sun expressed his confidence in WLFI, saying, “We are thrilled to invest $30 million in World Liberty Financial as its largest investor”. He also highlighted his belief that Trump’s administration will make the US a global leader in blockchain innovation.
WLFI’s token sale, which began on 15 October, had aimed to raise $300 million. By 24 November, the sale had only raised $22 million.
Sun’s $30 million investment on 25 November gave the project a significant boost, bringing the total raised to $66.5 million. His investment alone accounted for 45% of this amount.
WLFI positions itself as a platform for borrowing, lending, and earning interest on cryptocurrency assets.
Although the project lowered its initial fundraising goal, it has gained attention due to endorsements and high-profile investments.
New partnership and plans
On 14 November, WLFI had announced a partnership with Chainlink to strengthen its decentralised finance (DeFi) platform.
Chainlink will provide key infrastructure, including on-chain data and cross-chain connectivity, for WLFI’s upcoming launch on Ethereum’s mainnet.
The project will also use Chainlink’s Price Feeds to securely onboard assets like $USDC, $USDT, $ETH, and $WBTC into its Aave v3 protocol instance. This move still requires approval from WLFI’s governance system.
Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of Chainlink, highlighted the importance of the partnership. He said Chainlink’s “reliability and security” would help WLFI attract users seeking trustworthy technology in DeFi.
Another important step for WLFI is a proposal made on 27 November by its decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO) to deploy an Aave v3 instance on Ethereum’s mainnet. This initiative aims to expand borrowing and lending services to more users in the DeFi space.
Controversy surrounding the project
WLFI’s launch in September has raised concerns among ethics experts. Critics claim the project allows Trump to attract investments from those seeking to influence US policy.
Trump’s team dismissed these claims. Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s spokesperson, said, “The president-elect loves Americans and wants to make America great again”.
The founding team of WLFI includes Trump’s sons, Eric, Donald Jr., and Barron, along with real estate executive Steve Witkoff and his sons.
The token sale is open only to accredited US investors with a net worth of over $1 million, excluding their homes.
According to WLFI’s website, the project has sold 4.43 billion tokens worth $66.2 million, with 15.592 billion tokens still available.
Twenty per cent of the tokens are allocated to the founding team, 17% to user rewards, and the rest for public sale.
Despite these controversies, WLFI has attracted significant investment and continues to move forward with its plans to become a major player in the crypto space.
