WLFI token reserve plans spark speculation over project purpose
Losses amounted to about $52M
World Liberty Financial’s (WLFI) plans to create a strategic token reserve have triggered speculation about the project’s ultimate goal and a potential conflict of interest concerning the Trump family.
WLFI co-founder Chase Herro announced at the recent ONDO Summit that the firm intends to establish its own crypto reserve using accumulated assets.
Herro was introduced at the event by Donald Trump Jr. and took part in discussions on crypto regulation and the tokenization of real-world assets alongside other WLFI executives, including Zach Folkman and Zach Witkoff.
Although details about the WLF reserve remain undisclosed, the announcement stirred significant debate within the crypto community. This is particularly relevant given the Trump family’s active promotion of their DeFi project on social media and at public events. Moreover, Herro’s statement came as the new U.S. administration began working on crypto regulations.
According to Bloomberg, crypto companies may benefit from Trump’s stance on changing digital asset funding rules.
Major purchases around Trump’s inauguration
Since its launch in October 2024, WLF has been accumulating various cryptocurrencies, including USDT, USDC, ONDO, ETH, STETH, and others.
Data from Lookonchain revealed that on February 6, WLFI made its most recent crypto purchase, spending $470,000 USDC to acquire approximately 314,000 ONDO tokens.
WLFI’s most significant purchases were timed around Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 21. Data from Spot On Chain showed that WLF acquired over $185 million in assets that day, including $47 million each in ETH and WBTC. Additionally, WLF accumulated TRX, AAVE, ENA, and LINK, each valued at $4.7 million.
The DeFi project also purchased four Ethereum domain names: worldliberty.eth, trumpcoin.eth, barrontrump.eth, and erictrump.eth. The acquisition of ENS domains has fueled speculation about more Trump-related memecoins.
$307M crypto transfer sparks sell-off rumors
On February 4, WLFI transferred over $307 million in eight assets to Coinbase Prime, raising concerns that the company might be liquidating its holdings.
However, WLFI representatives later clarified that they had not sold any tokens but had simply moved funds to handle payments, fees, and working capital requirements.
Regardless, data from Spot On Chain indicates that after Trump’s tariff-related statements, WLFI’s crypto investments—worth approximately $243 million between January 19–31—have since declined by $51.7 million (-21%).
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The three biggest losses in WLF’Is portfolio include:
ETH: -$36.7 million (-24.4%)
WBTC: -$8 million (-12.1%)
ENA: -$2.05 million (-43.7%)
Additionally, data from Arkham Intelligence shows that as of February 7, WBTC, LINK, and ENA are no longer part of WLFI’s assets, suggesting that the Trump-backed crypto fund has significantly adjusted its holdings.
As we wrote, World Liberty Financial (WLFI), an investment firm backed by Donald Trump, has been hit with significant losses as the crypto market experiences another sharp downturn. The company, which had invested heavily in digital assets, has reportedly seen its portfolio shrink by over $51 million in unrealized losses.
