Eric Trump's Family-Run WLFI Draws Crypto Community Ire After Dumping $300M in ETH, WBTC, and Other DeFi Tokens

Eric Trump and their family-run World Liberty Financial (WLFI) have elicited crypto community backlash. The criticism followed WLFI’s recent sale of Ethereum [ETH]

Eric Trump’s family-run World Liberty Financial (WLFI) has faced criticism from the crypto community over its recent sale of Ethereum [ETH], wrapped Bitcoin [WBTC], and other DeFi tokens.

According to data from analytics firm LookOnChain, WLFI sold over $300 million worth of tokens, prompting criticism and speculation.

“Today, World Liberty also transferred 86,296 $ETH($235M), 647 $WBTC($65.5M), 256,315 $LINK($5.4M), 19,399 $AAVE($5.26M), 5.78M $ENA($3.88M), 2.4M $MOVE($1.57M) and 134,216 $ONDO($190K) to #CoinbasePrime,” LookOnChain noted.

The collective sell-off on Coinbase, as highlighted by the data, amounted to $316.8 million. Despite acquiring another $5 million ETH on the same day, the move appeared to have surprised the crypto community.

While Eric Trump had previously made a bullish call to buy ETH, his affiliate’s move seemed to contradict that advice. Trump had highlighted that it was the “perfect time to buy ETH,” even as its affiliate sold over $200 million worth of it.

One user pointed out the irony, adding that they were asking people to double down on an asset only to use them as exit liquidity.

“Literal crime lol. Bro just deposited ~$175M $ETH into Coinbase Prime (surely to buy).”

In response to the criticism, WLFI defended itself, stating that it had not ‘sold’ any tokens but was ‘reallocating assets' for ordinary business.

“We’re making routine movements of our crypto holdings as part of regular treasury management, and payment of fees and expenses and to address working capital requirements,” the statement read.

“To be clear, we are not selling tokens—we are simply reallocating assets for ordinary business purposes.”

Meanwhile, Presto Research analyst Rick Maeda noted that traders had jumped on put options (bets for downside protections) following the massive drop and deleveraging event over the weekend.

“The move, which saw ETH perp prices on Deribit Exchange plunge from $3,285 to $2,065, has triggered a significant shift in market positioning, as evidenced by the put-call ratio surging from last week’s relatively calm 0.6 to above 2.5 today – indicating a rush for downside protection among market participants”

This suggested a caution against potential declines in the next few days or hours, and a similar sentiment was still present at press time.

According to 25RR (Delta Risk Reversal), which tracks sentiment and premium for calls (bullish bets) relative to puts options, the next four days were negative.

Highlighting the hedging activity in the first half of February to protect against further ETH declines, the sentiment remained bearish for the coming days.