Donald Trump’s World Liberty Financial crypto project is struggling despite his victory in the US presidential election.
Data on the project’s website shows that World Liberty Financial (WLFI) is struggling to meet its reduced goal of selling 2 billion tokens worth $30 million. The project initially aimed to sell 18.92 billion tokens worth approximately $300 million.
World Liberty Financial has raised $16.2 million by selling 1.08 billion tokens so far, which means it still has a long way to go to reach its goal. This is notable as lower profile tokens like Poodlena and Bitcoin Dogs have raised more funds in a short period of time.
World Liberty Financial aims to become a major player in DeFi
According to its “gold paper,” World Liberty Financial is a decentralized financial network inspired by Trump himself. The aim of the project is to democratize access to financial assets while strengthening the global status of the US dollar.
The platform will allow users to save and borrow primarily in US dollar-based stablecoins such as Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC). It also plans to launch its own stablecoin to be used on the platform.
World Liberty Financial will compete with established DeFi networks such as AAVE, Compound, and JustLend, which currently hold significant market share. The WLFI token will power the platform and be used for governance, allowing its holders to vote on the WLF Protocol.
WLFI red flags
The likely reason why the WLFI token sale did not go well is due to the various red flags we highlighted earlier.
First, according to the gold document, token holders are expected to benefit only from WLFI price movements rather than any profit-sharing privileges. Instead, 75% of the net protocol revenues will go to DT Marks DEFI LLC, which is controlled by Trump and will also receive 22.5 billion WLFI tokens. The remaining 25% will go to WC Digital Fi, which will receive 7.5 billion WLFI tokens.
Second, World Liberty Financial’s team includes only two main members: Chase Herro and Zak Folkman, both of whom were previously involved in Dough Financial, a failed DeFi protocol that led to significant investor losses. Other senior names are Trump’s sons Eric and Donald Jr. and Barron.
Third, the WLFI token sale also underperformed after Galaxy Digital warned that it was more of an idea than a protocol. Their analysis also noted that the token does not accrue any value for a non-existent project.
Additionally, many presale tokens have not performed well this year, with many experiencing a sharp decline within a few days of their airdrop.