President Trump’s cryptocurrency venture got off to a wild start.
World Liberty Financial’s flagship token, WLFI tumbled 50% from its launch peak after debuting on Monday, but still commanded a $5.98 billion market cap — making it the 27th-largest cryptocurrency in circulation, according to CoinMarketCap.
WLFI traded at 23 cents as of 5 p.m. ET on Tuesday after soaring to as high as 46 cents following its launch.
Several of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance, OKX and Bybit, are offering the tokens on their platforms.
The token’s volatility came as Eric Trump attended a shareholder meeting in Tokyo for Metaplanet, a Japanese bitcoin treasury company he joined as an adviser in March, to back a plan to issue 550 million new shares and buy more bitcoin.
The president’s son also stirred up some laughs after posting a video on Instagram showing him stepping into a ring with a yokozuna, a sumo wrestler of the highest rank, who took a tackle from the 6-foot-5 businessman like it was nothing.
Trump, 41, wearing a blue polo and denim shorts, desperately tried to push the sumo diaper-wearing behemoth out of the ring, but the burly yokozuna did not budge
Instead, the sumo wrestler wrapped his arms around Trump and lifted him off of his feet, carrying him out of the ring and ending the first bout.
“Not every day you get invited to sumo the legend, Yokozuna! Almost had him!” Trump joked. “A great honor!”
His Japan tour, part of a broader Trump family crypto push, comes as Metaplanet’s bitcoin holdings top $2 billion and its stock has soared nearly 760% in the past year.
Nearly a quarter of the token’s 100 billion supply is in circulation, giving early investors tradable holdings while the Trump family and co-founders’ stakes remain locked.
Community sentiment on CoinMarketCap skews bullish, with 84% of nearly 25,000 voters betting on further gains, even as top holders reportedly reduce positions.
The hype is fueled by WLFI’s branding. It is the governance token for World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s high-profile DeFi venture, which also issues a dollar-pegged stablecoin, USD1.
The token’s volatility reflects both speculation and concentration. Trump and his sons collectively own just under 25% of WLFI’s supply, a stake worth billions on paper.
The venture has already generated around $500 million from token sales, according to public disclosures and blockchain data, positioning it as the family’s most valuable asset.
Despite criticism over Trump’s dual role as president and crypto entrepreneur, World Liberty has insisted it is a private business “not involved in politics.”
The White House has said repeatedly that Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children and that there are no conflicts of interest.
