World Liberty Financial (WLFI): the token, USD1, the owners and the lawsuits

World Liberty Financial is the Florida company behind two crypto assets that people often confuse: WLFI, a governance token that raised $550 million in public sales, and USD1, a dollar stablecoin that BitGo, a regulated trust bank, issues under World Liberty’s brand. An entity affiliated with Donald J. Trump and members of his family owns about 38% of the company’s holding entity, according to World Liberty’s own risk disclosures. Most of the scrutiny, from lawsuits to letters in the Senate, starts there.

As of 23 October 2026, the token is tradable but mostly locked, USD1 supply has fallen for a month, a trust bank owned by the group has only preliminary approval, and two lawsuits are open. The sections below take each piece in turn, with the documents behind it.

What World Liberty Financial is and what it sells

The Gold Paper, the project’s founding document, describes World Liberty Financial LLC as a Florida limited liability company that owns, is developing and will operate the WLF Protocol and its governance platform. Its stated mission is to widen access to financial opportunities while reinforcing the dollar’s global position. In practice the protocol points users to third-party DeFi applications rather than running all of them itself.

The website listed five live products on 23 October 2026. USD1 is the stablecoin. WLFI staking and governance let holders vote on proposals. WLFI Markets, a lending market for supplying and borrowing assets, is provided by Dolomite, an outside DeFi protocol. AgentPay SDK is open-source code that lets AI agents make payments under spending rules, with a human approval step. A bridge moves USD1 and WLFI between networks. A WLFI app and a Convert feature are marked “coming soon”, without a date.

The GitHub organisation was created on 3 August 2024. The first public token sale opened on or around 14 October 2024, according to the documentation.

Who is behind it: the Trump family, the Witkoffs and two founders

Instead of officers, the Gold Paper lists a “supporting team”: Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Barron Trump as co-founders, alongside Zak Folkman, Chase Herro, Zach Witkoff and Alex Witkoff. Donald J. Trump and Steve Witkoff appear as co-founders emeritus, with a footnote saying each was “removed upon taking office”. The same document calls Donald Trump the project’s “Chief Crypto Advocate”. Corey Caplan is chief technology officer, Brandi Reynolds chief compliance officer and Ryan Fang head of growth.

Another footnote says these titles are descriptive and create no director, officer or employee relationship. In filings with the SEC, Zach Witkoff is the person named as co-founder and chief executive: ALT5 Sigma’s press release of August 2025 and its 2026 quarterly report both describe him that way. The website itself has no team page.

Ownership: 38% for DT Marks DEFI, and a reported Abu Dhabi stake

The WLFI risk disclosures set out the chain. DT Marks DEFI LLC, which they describe as affiliated with Donald J. Trump and certain of his family members, owns about 38% of WLF Holdco LLC. WLF Holdco holds the only membership interest in World Liberty Financial LLC. The Gold Paper adds that no member of the Trump family, and nobody from the Trump Organization or DT Marks DEFI, is an officer, director or employee of the company.

Who owns the other 62% is not stated in WLF’s documents. The Wall Street Journal reported on 31 January 2026 that Aryam Investment 1, an Abu Dhabi entity backed by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, the UAE’s national security adviser, agreed four days before the January 2025 inauguration to buy 49% of World Liberty for $500 million, in a deal signed by Eric Trump. The Block and Cointelegraph relayed the report, which also said executives linked to the investor took board seats. Spokespeople told the Journal that the President was not involved and denied any wrongdoing. Coindaro could not read the Journal’s article itself. The OCC’s decision on the group’s trust bank, a regulator’s document, confirms only that “United Arab Emirati investors” in World Liberty Financial, Inc. exist and that reporting on them “has been open and extensive”.

How does World Liberty Financial make money?

Token sales came first. A services agreement described in the Gold Paper gave DT Marks DEFI LLC 22.5 billion WLFI and the right to 75% of the protocol’s net revenues, after agreed operating expenses and an initial treasury reserve. In exchange, DT Marks DEFI agreed to use reasonable efforts to have its principals, Donald Trump included, promote the project, and licensed their name, image and likeness. The risk disclosures put it in plainer terms: DT Marks DEFI is entitled to fees equal to 75% of WLFI sale proceeds after reserves and expenses.

Axiom Management Group, a Puerto Rico company wholly owned by Chase Herro and Zak Folkman, and WC Digital Fi LLC, an affiliate of Steve Witkoff and some of his relatives, received 7.5 billion WLFI between them and the right to the other 25%. The agreement has an initial five-year term. The first $15 million of net revenues went into a reserve controlled by a WLF multisig wallet.

USD1, covered in the next section, is the second possible source of income, because reserve assets earn interest. How much of that reaches World Liberty or its owners is not disclosed in any document we read, and the reserves themselves sit at BitGo. Published estimates exist; we could not check them.

USD1 is issued by BitGo, not by World Liberty

The USD1 documentation is blunt: “World Liberty Financial does not issue or custody USD1 directly.” The issuer is BitGo Bank & Trust, N.A., a national trust bank chartered and supervised by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), which also holds the reserves. The USD1 brand belongs to World Liberty Financial, Inc. and SC Financial Technologies, LLC. Only eligible BitGo customers can mint or redeem; everyone else buys and sells on exchanges. Our guide to what stablecoins are and how they hold their peg explains the model for newcomers.

USD1 launched on 25 March 2025, according to a court complaint covered in our news report. DefiLlama’s data series starts on 28 April 2025 at $727 million. Like other dollar stablecoins it can be frozen: the USD1 risk disclosures say BitGo may deny access to certain addresses and freeze the tokens they hold.

KPMG examined reserves of $4.196 billion at 31 August

BitGo publishes a monthly reserve report examined by KPMG LLP. The latest, dated 24 September 2026, covers 13 and 31 August 2026. On 31 August it counted 4,195,303,689 USD1 outstanding against $4,195,716,067 of redemption assets: $1.129 billion of cash in segregated accounts at US commercial banks and $3.066 billion in shares of a government money market fund. That left $412,378 of surplus. The report identifies the fund only by its CUSIP code. No report for September 2026 had been published by 23 October.

KPMG’s conclusion is narrow. “In our opinion, Management’s Assertion is fairly stated, in all material respects,” it wrote. The assertion is BitGo’s: that the tokens outstanding, the reserve assets and the comparison of the two on those dates are presented according to the AICPA’s 2025 stablecoin criteria. It is an attestation, not a full audit of BitGo, and it says nothing about World Liberty.

Two caveats in the report matter to holders. Redemption rights are contractual and give no claim on any specific reserve asset. And they belong to BitGo customers in good standing: people who hold USD1 without an account “do not have direct redemption rights”. Between reports, a proof-of-reserves dashboard on WLF’s site reads an oracle from Chainlink, though the docs warn that its accuracy is not guaranteed.

Supply fell to $3.98 billion in October

DefiLlama put USD1 supply at $3.979 billion on 23 October 2026 at 18:38 UTC, against $4.387 billion a month earlier, a fall of about 9%. Its daily series peaked near $5.39 billion on 11 February 2026. Solana carried $1.397 billion, Ethereum $1.355 billion and BNB Chain $1.180 billion, with small amounts on Aptos, AB Core and Tron. The docs list 11 networks in all, linked by Chainlink’s cross-chain protocol. For scale, the same data showed USDC at $71.9 billion and USDT at $182.6 billion.

The holder base was narrow. Forbes reported on 9 February 2026, using Arkham data, that Binance-linked wallets and accounts held about 87% of USD1, roughly $4.7 billion out of $5.4 billion; the figure mixes the exchange’s own wallets with customer balances. The current share is not known.

WLFI raised $550 million in two public rounds

The tokenomics page of the docs says the public sale ran from about 14 October 2024 to 14 March 2025. Round one sold 20 billion WLFI at $0.015 ($300 million). Round two sold 5 billion at $0.05 ($250 million). Total: $550 million. Another 8.893 billion tokens from the sale allocation went to “other parties, including strategic investors and institutional participants”, at prices the docs do not give.

Other tallies run higher. DefiLlama’s list of raises adds a $25 million strategic entry dated 16 April 2025 and a $100 million private one dated 26 June 2025, for $715 million in all. In May 2026 Bloomberg reported, from governance filings analysed by Tokenomist, that WLF had sold about 5.9 billion WLFI to private accredited investors without naming them; Crypto Briefing, which relayed the story, said the company later confirmed the sales. Neither extra figure appears in the docs.

Supply: 100 billion at launch, 96.72 billion on Ethereum today

WLFI started with 100 billion tokens. On 23 October 2026 the Ethereum contract returned a total supply of 96,722,743,250 WLFI (block 26,257,169), while the docs gave about 96,742,743,250. The two differ by exactly 20 million tokens, and neither source explains the gap. The token also lives on BNB Smart Chain and Solana through Chainlink’s cross-chain pools, which lock tokens on Ethereum and mint them on the other chains.

So about 3.28 billion tokens are no longer counted in the supply. Buyback-and-burn operations were reported from September 2025, but the amounts reported then were small, and the documents we read do not say where the bulk of the difference went. We do not state a cumulative burn figure.

From non-transferable to tradable: the 2025 and 2026 unlock votes

Tokens bought in the sale could not be moved at first. Holders voted from 9 to 16 July 2025 to make WLFI tradable, by 11.14 billion to 0.01 billion. On or around 1 September 2025, 20% of early supporters’ tokens became available to buyers who signed a token unlock agreement. Binance opened spot trading at 13:00 UTC the same day, FXStreet and other outlets reported.

The other 80% waited for a vote that closed on 6 May 2026. It covers 17.04 billion early-supporter tokens: a two-year cliff, then two years of linear release, so the first should unlock around May 2028 and the last around May 2030. Accepting is optional. Holders who say no stay locked indefinitely but keep their votes.

Founders, team, advisors and partners hold 45.24 billion tokens under a two-year cliff followed by three years of release. Those who opt in burn 10% of their allocation before anything unlocks, up to 4.52 billion WLFI. Whether any insider wallet has opted in is not public.

Eight governance votes, all passed, all screened by the company

The docs leave no room for doubt about the token’s purpose: “The sole purpose of the WLFI token is to participate in governance of the World Liberty Financial Protocol”, the governance page says. The same page sets the limits. World Liberty Financial LLC screens every proposal before it reaches Snapshot, its decisions on eligibility are final, and outcomes “are not binding in all circumstances”. A vote usually lasts seven days, needs a quorum of 1 billion WLFI and counts at most 5 billion tokens per holder. Treasury tokens cannot vote.

Turnout is thin. The unlock proposal itself said that, even at its peak, active governance represented roughly 23% of the locked supply it covered, and that the other 77% had never voted on anything.

The March 2026 staking plan drew the most criticism. It offered “super nodes” staking 50 million WLFI, about $5 million at the time by the proposal’s own estimate, “Guaranteed direct access to the WLFI team for partnership discussions.” Reuters reported it as access to the team for a $5 million stake. A WLF spokesperson told Reuters the access was “not to specific founders”, Decrypt reported, describing it as access to business development staff and executives.

A September 2026 vote replaced that plan. Staking went live on 1 October 2026 with a USD1 reward pool of $1.25 million, Crypto Briefing and The Defiant reported. Under the staking page, tokens are locked for at least 180 days, the reward rate is variable, and claiming requires one direct Snapshot vote for every full 90 days staked. Staking does not change voting power: tokens in a wallet, staked or still locked count the same.

Deals: MGX and Binance, ALT5 Sigma and Dolomite

MGX, an Abu Dhabi investment firm, announced a $2 billion investment in Binance on 12 March 2025 without saying which stablecoin would pay for it. On 1 May 2025, at the Token2049 conference in Dubai, Zach Witkoff said USD1 would be the stablecoin used to close the deal, The Block reported.

The biggest corporate deal followed on 11 August 2025. ALT5 Sigma, a Nasdaq-listed company, announced share offerings of about $1.5 billion at $7.50 a share, the private part paid in WLFI tokens contributed by World Liberty Financial, Inc., according to the press release filed with the SEC. Zach Witkoff was to become chairman, Eric Trump a director and Zak Folkman a board observer. On 28 April 2026 the company renamed itself AI Financial Corporation (ticker AIFC).

Its quarterly report filed on 17 August 2026 shows 7,283,585,650 WLFI, about 7.3% of supply, bought at $0.20 a token. Cost: $1.457 billion. Value on 27 June 2026: $421.3 million. The company booked a $633.4 million unrealised loss in 26 weeks and treats WLF as a related party, because its chairman, Zach Witkoff, is WLF’s chief executive and a director, Zak Folkman, is a WLF co-founder. WLF also lent a subsidiary up to $15 million on 29 January 2026 at 4.5%, secured by WLFI. On 1 July 2026 Nasdaq gave the company until 28 December 2026 to bring its share price back above $1, an 8-K filing shows.

Dolomite is the third link. CoinDesk reported on 9 April 2026, and Fortune the next day, that WLF wallets had lent WLFI worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Dolomite and borrowed stablecoins against it; Fortune noted that Corey Caplan co-founded the platform. WLF replied on X that its positions were “nowhere near liquidation” and that it would add collateral if markets moved sharply. On 23 October 2026 DefiLlama showed Dolomite with $209 million of total value locked and $411 million borrowed.

A trust bank with preliminary OCC approval only

The group wants to issue USD1 itself. On 14 August 2026 the OCC granted preliminary conditional approval to World Liberty Trust Company, National Association, of Bay Harbor Islands, Florida. The bank plans to issue USD1 to institutional clients nationwide, “assuming this role from BitGo”, which the decision calls the current exclusive issuer. “The OCC has granted preliminary conditional approval only,” the decision says, and until final approval the regulator can modify, suspend or rescind it.

The conditions include at least $20 million of Tier 1 capital and 180 days of operating expenses held in liquid assets. Zach Witkoff is the organiser, a director and the president. Eric Trump signed passivity commitments, promises not to control the bank, as president of DT Marks SC LLC.

The OCC received seven comments from four commenters, and four raised possible conflicts of interest involving the President and his family, Alexander and Zachary Witkoff, and Emirati investors. Its answer was that career staff reviewed the file, and that conflict, Emoluments Clause and CFIUS questions fell outside its review because World Liberty Financial, Inc. is not a party to the application. The OCC did not rule on those questions. No final approval or opening date has been announced.

Lawsuits, freezes and conflict-of-interest allegations

Justin Sun’s suit in California

Justin Sun, the Tron founder who bought tens of millions of dollars of WLFI early on, sued the company in federal court in California in April 2026. He announced it on X on 22 April 2026 (UTC), writing that he acted “to protect my legal rights as a holder of $WLFI tokens” and that he remained an ardent supporter of President Trump.

The complaint alleges that WLF froze his tokens after he refused to put in more money, pressured him to invest “hundreds of millions of dollars to mint USD1”, and borrowed at least $75 million in stablecoins against its own WLFI, CBS News reported. Sun also says the company removed his governance vote, The Block reported. Zach Witkoff called the claims “entirely meritless” and said the suit was an attempt to deflect attention from Sun’s own conduct.

At a later hearing the judge kept Sun’s individual claims in open court, while the parties were told to negotiate which claims of his companies go to arbitration, The Defiant reported. We have not seen a written order. The case is open.

Freezes of Sun’s wallet and of HTX-linked addresses

The dispute goes back to September 2025. WLF froze an address linked to Sun after he moved about $9 million of WLFI on 4 September, Fortune reported, citing Arkham data. WLF said on X that “We do not seek to blacklist anyone” and that it responds when alerted to malicious or high-risk activity. Its own risk disclosures reserve the right to freeze tokens.

In June 2026 WLF froze addresses linked to the HTX exchange, which delisted USD1 at 03:00 UTC on 7 June. WLF had posted a general reminder about sanctions screening on 3 June. HTX spokesperson Molly Fu said the assets “are not assets belonging to any sanctioned entity”, The Block reported. The UK had sanctioned Huobi Global S.A. on 26 May.

UAE money, the Zhao pardon and the Circle shareholder suit

A shareholder of Circle, the issuer of USDC, sued Donald Trump, World Liberty and others in Washington on 22 October 2026, alleging that UAE money put into USD1 was followed by official acts. WLF’s lawyer and the White House deny it. Our report on the Circle shareholder lawsuit covers the complaint and the replies; Circle itself has its own project page.

Trump pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao in October 2025, the White House confirmed, as Reuters and AP reported. A week later the Wall Street Journal reported that Binance had helped USD1 grow and had sought clemency for Zhao, according to Straight Arrow News’s account. WLF’s attorney told the Journal that the company “never assisted in, facilitated, or influenced a decision on Mr. Zhao’s presidential pardon”. No document we read links the two.

Trump’s annual financial disclosure, released on 30 June 2026, showed crypto income. CBS News said it listed more than $500 million from WLF token sales; The Block gave a lower figure. We did not open the filing and print no total. White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told CBS News that “there are no conflicts of interest”.

Congress: the CLARITY Act ethics fight

Senator Elizabeth Warren and other Democrats have pressed Senate leaders to add conflict-of-interest rules to the CLARITY Act, the market-structure bill, pointing to the President’s crypto income and to USD1. Reports differ on where the ethics text stands; our page on US crypto rules after the CLARITY Act stalled follows the bill.

The GENIUS Act, the federal stablecoin law signed in July 2025, takes effect on 18 January 2027. WLF’s docs say USD1 is designed for alignment with it. We found no SEC lawsuit against World Liberty. The OCC decision is the only federal ruling on the group we found, and it covers the bank charter alone.

No public smart-contract audit report found

According to the Gold Paper, the token sale contract “has been audited by four leading security firms, including Blocksec, Zokyo, Fuzzland and Peckshield”. We found no report from any of them in the official docs, in the GitHub organisation or in searches, and Etherscan shows no submitted audit. Until one is published, the claim rests on the company’s word. The monthly KPMG examinations check USD1 reserves, not code.

Risks for holders of WLFI and USD1

WLFI gives no claim on revenue or assets. The risk disclosures say so directly: “You should not acquire $WLFI as an investment on a speculative basis or otherwise.” Entities linked to the founders hold 30 billion tokens through the co-founder allocation alone, and the company decides which proposals reach a vote.

WLF has used its freeze power at least twice, and one of those freezes is before a judge. USD1 depends on BitGo until the trust bank opens, offers direct redemption only to BitGo customers and was concentrated on one exchange in early 2026. The President’s family holds a large share of the economics, two lawsuits are open, and Senate Democrats have made the project part of the ethics fight over the CLARITY Act.

Coindaro does not give investment advice. Live prices on this page come from market data, not from this text.

Dates to watch

• 28 December 2026: AI Financial Corporation’s deadline to meet Nasdaq’s $1 minimum share price.
• 18 January 2027: the GENIUS Act takes effect.
• Around 30 March 2027: the first 180-day staking locks, opened on 1 October 2026, end.
• Around May 2028: the two-year cliff ends for early supporters and insiders who opted in.
• No date yet: final OCC approval of World Liberty Trust Company, a ruling in Sun’s case, and the KPMG report for September 2026.