President Donald Trump’s crypto project, World Liberty Financial (WLFI), has announced a partnership with market maker DWF Labs. This collaboration includes a significant investment of $25 million in WLFI tokens. Additionally, DWF has committed to providing liquidity for WLFI’s forthcoming USD1 stablecoin.
World Liberty Financial Expands Horizons
Zak Folkman, co-founder of World Liberty Financial, expressed optimism about the partnership, stating, “As our partner, we expect DWF Labs to help accelerate the next-generation infrastructure we’re actively building and deploying at WLFI.”
DWF Labs is based in Dubai and led by Andrei Grachev, a former head of Russian operations for the crypto exchange HTX. The firm has announced plans to expand its presence in the United States, including the opening of a new office in New York.
However, the partnership comes amid a backdrop of controversy. A report from the Wall Street Journal last May alleged that DWF had proposed using its trading position to artificially inflate cryptocurrency prices and create “deceptive trading volumes” on exchanges, including Binance.
This alleged manipulation was said to lure in “unsuspecting traders.” Following the report, DWF publicly denied the allegations, claiming they were unfounded and emphasized their commitment to integrity and transparency.
Moreover, DWF has faced further scrutiny due to allegations involving one of its senior partners who was accused of attempting to drug a woman in Hong Kong last year. DWF confirmed that the partner was dismissed from management and operational roles following the incident.
Trump Family’s Crypto Ventures
Despite these controversies, DWF Labs is not the only notable investor in World Liberty Financial. Chinese crypto billionaire Justin Sun, who was sued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2023, has invested $75 million in WLFI and has taken on an advisory role with the project.
World Liberty Financial represents just one facet of Trump’s ventures into the cryptocurrency space. His family has launched various initiatives, including a collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), a Bitcoin mining partnership, and memecoins associated with both Trump and First Lady Melania Trump.
Collectively, these projects are approaching $1 billion in paper gains, even amid fluctuating market conditions driven by trade tensions, according to Bloomberg calculations.
Eric Trump has publicly stated that there are “no conflicts” regarding the family’s crypto investments, despite the alleged conflict of interest raised by lawmakers in Congress, including crypto-skeptic Senator Elizabeth Warren.
At the time of writing, the official TRUMP memecoin is trading at $7.85, registering losses of nearly 30% after a significant debut. Once trading above the $70 mark, the memecoin is now 89% below its record high reached 24 hours after its debut earlier this year.
Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com
