The
investment
by
Sun,
best
known
for
creating
the
TRON
blockchain,
comes
after
World
Liberty
Financial
saw
slow
initial
sales
of
its
WLFI
token.
Updated
Nov
25,
2024,
8:45 p.m.
Published
Nov
25,
2024,
7:00 p.m.
Sun
just
invested
in
Donald
Trump’s
WLFI
(Justin
Sun/X)
The
Donald
Trump-backed
cryptocurrency
platform
World
Liberty
Financial
got
off
to
a
sluggish
start,
with
investors
buying
far
fewer
of
its
WLFI
tokens
than
the
project
hoped
for.
But
now,
Chinese-born
crypto
billionaire
Justin
Sun
has
just
given
it
a
significant
boost,
buying
$30
million
worth
of
WLFI.
continues
below
World
Liberty
is
a
decentralized
finance
(DeFi)
platform
backed
by
the
incoming
U.S.
president
and
all
three
of
his
sons.
The
project
is
run
by
a
circle
of
Trump
world
insiders,
crypto
entrepreneurs
and
financial
figures.
Sun,
meanwhile,
is
best
known
for
establishing
TRON,
a
blockchain
platform
mostly
popular
in
Asia.
He
is
also
affiliated
with
HTX,
a
popular
crypto
exchange
formerly
known
as
Huobi.
On
Nov.
25,
$30
million
of
WLFI
tokens
were
purchased
by
a
wallet
tagged
to
Huobi
by
Etherscan,
the
Ethereum
blockchain
data
service.
A
spokesperson
for
TRON
declined
to
directly
comment
on
whether
the
sale
was
tied
to
Sun,
but
sources
familiar
with
the
matter
told
CoinDesk
that
he
was
behind
the
purchase.
And
Sun
confirmed
this
in
a
tweet.
World
Liberty
Financial
was
launched
in
September
2024,
aiming
to
provide
decentralized
borrowing
and
lending
services,
with
governance
managed
through
the
native
WLFI
token.
Sales
of
the
WLFI
token
went
live
in
September,
but
only
non-U.S.
investors
and
accredited
U.S.
investors
were
allowed
to
participate.
The
purchase
restrictions
—
combined
with
the
fact
that
WLFI
tokens
are
non-transferable
—
appeared
to
make
the
token
a
tough
sell
for
most
crypto
investors.
Although
the
project
set
a
target
of
selling
$300
million
worth
of
tokens,
it
had
only
sold
$21
million
worth
before
Sun’s
purchase
on
Monday.
According
to
the
WLFI
“gold
paper”
outlining
the
project’s
plans
and
details
of
the
WLFI
token,
a
portion
of
the
WLFI
sale
proceeds
will
go
to
a
company
controlled
by
Donald
Trump.
Trump’s
company,
however,
would
only
profit
once
the
sale
proceeds
exceeded
$30
million,
which
they
hadn’t
before
Monday’s
sale
to
Sun.
Danny
Nelson
Danny
is
CoinDesk’s
managing
editor
for
Data
&
Tokens.
He
formerly
ran
investigations
for
the
Tufts
Daily.
At
CoinDesk,
his
beats
include
(but
are
not
limited
to):
federal
policy,
regulation,
securities
law,
exchanges,
the
Solana
ecosystem,
smart
money
doing
dumb
things,
dumb
money
doing
smart
things
and
tungsten
cubes.
He
owns
BTC,
ETH
and
SOL
tokens,
as
well
as
the
LinksDAO
NFT.
Sam
Kessler
Sam
is
CoinDesk’s
deputy
managing
editor
for
tech
and
protocols.
His
reporting
is
focused
on
decentralized
technology,
infrastructure
and
governance.
Sam
holds
a
computer
science
degree
from
Harvard
University,
where
he
led
the
Harvard
Political
Review.
He
has
a
background
in
the
technology
industry
and
owns
some
ETH
and
BTC.
Sam
was
part
of
the
team
that
won
a
2023
Gerald
Loeb
Award
for
CoinDesk’s
coverage
of
Sam
Bankman-Fried
and
the
FTX
collapse.
