World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture backed by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, has launched its stablecoin $USD1 on the Solana blockchain. More than $53 million in liquidity was injected into Solana’s DeFi markets to prepare for the release of the project’s flagship token, WLFI.
Raydium lead 0xInfra said $30 million of that liquidity went directly into the decentralized exchange, with more planned across Solana protocols. Solana was chosen for its low fees and fast settlement, and $USD1 adds to a growing list of stablecoins circulating on the network.
$USD1 is also live on Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain. It is described as being backed by U.S. Treasuries and other cash assets, though the auditing details are not fully disclosed. As of late April, about $2.1 billion worth of $USD1 had been issued, including a $2 billion transfer linked to an Abu Dhabi state-backed entity.
WLFI Records $1B Trading Volume But Price Swings 25% on Debut
WLFI began trading on September 1 with heavy activity, clearing more than $1 billion in volume within hours. Early buyers saw strong returns, with the token trading 19 times higher than its presale price from October 2024.
The launch was not smooth. WLFI price dropped as much as 25% during its first trading session, hitting $0.21 before recovering to $0.24. At that level, the token’s circulating supply pointed to a market value of about $6.4 billion.
The Trump family’s paper wealth surged on the back of the launch. Donald Trump personally holds 15.75 billion WLFI tokens, valued at around $3.6 billion, while combined family holdings are estimated at more than $5 billion.
Circulating Supply Discrepancies Put Tokenomics Under Scrutiny
World Liberty Financial has faced questions about how many WLFI tokens are actually available on the market. Early guidance suggested only 5% of supply would circulate at launch. Later updates showed that closer to 24 billion tokens were accessible. The team later said the real figure was about 6.4%, but that limit is not written into the contract. Investors are expected to trust that ecosystem and investor allocations will not be sold immediately.
The structure of the launch has also raised red flags. Alt5 Sigma, a company linked to World Liberty Financial, raised $750 million to buy WLFI tokens. Up to $500 million from that round reportedly flowed back to Trump-linked entities. Analysts have called this a form of self-dealing, even if it meets disclosure requirements.
Wallet analysis from Bubblemaps also showed that large amounts of WLFI were concentrated in a small group of wallets, a pattern that has drawn caution given past controversies in other Trump family tokens.
$USD1 Ties BONK and Solana’s Memecoin Economy
World Liberty Financial is also building connections to Solana’s memecoin economy. Bonk.fun, the memecoin launchpad, was chosen as the official platform for $USD1. While details of the partnership are unclear, Bonk.fun lead SolportTom said it would bring deeper liquidity for traders.
The Trump family also has indirect links to BONK. Safety Shot, a NASDAQ-listed company that pivoted into digital asset treasury management this year, made BONK one of its holdings and struck a revenue deal with bonk.fun. Dominari Holdings advised the deal, and both Trump brothers sit on its advisory board. These ties suggest BONK’s liquidity may benefit from the Trump-backed stablecoin.
For Solana, the launch of $USD1 brings fresh liquidity and stronger stablecoin activity. The WLFI debut shows the network can handle large token events, with trading volume crossing $1 billion in hours.
The risks, however, are significant. The unclear supply of WLFI, heavy insider holdings, and financing deals tied to Trump-linked companies leave open questions about transparency and governance. For now, Solana traders benefit from more stablecoin liquidity and incentives, but the longer-term stability of these inflows depends on how World Liberty Financial manages its token supply and investor trust.
