Donald Trump's Crypto Project, World Liberty Financial, Is Planning to Launch Its Own Stablecoin

The project has reportedly raised $14 million to develop and launch the US dollar-pegged token.

Donald Trump's crypto project, World Liberty Financial, is reportedly preparing to launch its own stablecoin.

The project is said to have raised $14 million to create and launch the US dollar-pegged token. Currently, World Liberty Financial is working on how to make the product viable for the market.

Earlier this month, World Liberty Financial announced that Paxos co-founder Rich Teo will lead the stablecoin for the project. Notably, Paxos powers the stablecoins Pax Dollar (USDP) and PayPal USD (PYUSD), which launched just a few weeks ago.

World Liberty Financial describes itself as "a movement to help secure the future of the US dollar in a digital world, without succumbing to the centralized control of CBDCs."

The project garnered $220 million in sales of its WLFI token within the first hour of its launch. At the time of writing, there are 956.23 million tokens sold with 19.044 billion remaining.

Recent reports indicate a record surge in the number of stablecoin transactions. Specifically, stablecoin liquidity surged to an all-time high of $169 billion at the end of last month, which marks a 31% growth since the beginning of the year.

However, launching a new stablecoin requires partnerships with exchanges such as Coinbase and Binance. Notably, Trump's re-election could position him advantageously, as both exchanges are facing SEC lawsuits - though Trump did pledge to remove Gary Gensler from his position if he were to be elected.

Tether, the market leader in stablecoins, partnered with Cantor Fitzgerald, which serves as a custodian. Interestingly, Cantor's CEO, Howard Lutnick, co-chairs Trump's transition team.

USDT from Tether has maintained its leading position, with its market cap expanding by $28 billion to nearly $120 billion since the start of the year, which comprises 71% of the market.

As the world’s most traded cryptocurrency, Tether sees about $190 billion traded daily. For the first half of 2024 alone, Tether revealed record-breaking profits, with a staggering $5.2 billion in earnings.

However, the US federal government is reportedly investigating Tether for allegedly violating sanctions and anti-money laundering laws, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Specifically, prosecutors in Manhattan are probing whether Tether has been used to support illegal activities like drug trafficking, terrorism, or hacking.