​Which assets might the Trump project WLFI buy next?

By: blockbeats|2024/12/20 13:15:01
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Original Article Title: "Which Assets Might the Trump Family's Project WLFI Acquire Next?"
Original Article Author: jk, Odaily Planet Daily

With the dominance of the American narrative and the Trump narrative since Trump's election and Bitcoin breaking the hundred thousand mark, the market's attention is now focused on World Liberty Financial (WLFI), which has strong ties to his family. Since its launch in September 2023, WLFI, with its unique narrative and large-scale capital operations, has quickly captured widespread market attention. Especially during December, WLFI made a significant purchase of nearly $45 million worth of crypto assets, triggering various speculations in the market. Investors and analysts are all trying to answer a key question: What tokens might WLFI continue to acquire in the future?

Background Information

World Liberty Financial (WLFI) was officially launched in September 2023, claiming to be a DeFi platform characterized by its reliance on and strong Trump-personal-attribute-colored values such as its relationship with the Trump family and the slogan "Be Defiant." On WLFI's official website, Trump is listed as the "Chief Crypto Advocate," and his sons Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Barron Trump hold positions as "Ambassadors."

​Which assets might the Trump project WLFI buy next?

WLFI's website. Source: WLFI Official Website

It is important to note that on the official website, this project actually legally avoids any connection with the Trump family. The project claims to be “the only DeFi platform inspired by Trump,” and the positions of advocates and ambassadors cannot be considered genuine positions involved in management. Moreover, at the bottom of the website, there is a small disclaimer:

“Donald J. Trump, any family member, or any director, officer, or employee of Trump Organization, DT Marks DEFI LLC, or their respective affiliates are not officers, directors, founders, or employees of World Liberty Financial (WLFI) or its affiliates. Ownership, management, or operation of World Liberty Financial, Inc., its affiliates, or the World Liberty Financial platform does not belong to Trump, any family member, Trump Organization, DT Marks DEFI LLC, or their respective directors, officers, employees, affiliates, or principals.”

The use and sale of the $WLFI token and the World Liberty Financial platform are provided solely by World Liberty Financial or its affiliates. DT Marks DEFI, LLC and its affiliates (including Donald J. Trump) have received or may receive approximately 22.5 billion tokens from World Liberty Financial and are entitled to receive 75% of the net protocol revenue under a service agreement. The definition of this protocol revenue includes revenue from any source, net of agreed-upon reserves, expenses, and other amounts, the specific amount of which has yet to be determined.

World Liberty Financial and its $WLFI token are not political in nature and are also not part of any political campaign activity.

Overall, the project team is basically telling everyone outright: "We have extensive ties to the Trump family, but in reality, legally we have no connection whatsoever." It sounds quite irresponsible.

This is also why hardly anyone is buying into the WLFI token: currently, as displayed on the project's official website, the total supply of 20 billion tokens has only achieved a quarter of its sales target since its launch for such a long time, even in the backdrop of such a bullish market.

Token sales target only achieved 5 billion. Source: WLFI Official Website

However, this does not affect the fact that the assets purchased by this project have to some extent set a market trend; after all, "willing to invest with the Trump family" and "What assets has the Trump family invested in? Can I mirror their trades?" are two completely different things. In the latter case, the unparalleled appeal of Trump, who emerged as a crypto advocate winner, is undeniable.

Large-Scale Cryptocurrency Asset Purchase

Odaily previously reported that, according to Spot On Chain monitoring, since November 2023, WLFI has made large-scale purchases of various mainstream and emerging cryptocurrency assets through a single primary wallet address.

The assets purchased include:

· ETH: Total amount $30 million, purchased 8,105 ETH, with an average purchase price of $3,701 per ETH;

· cbBTC: Total amount $10 million, purchased 102.9 cbBTC, with an average purchase price of $97,181 per cbBTC; (to be later converted to WBTC)

· LINK: Total amount $2 million, purchased 78,387 LINK, with an average purchase price of $25.51 per LINK;

· AAVE: Total amount $1.91 million, purchased 5,886 AAVE, with an average purchase price of $324.4 per AAVE;

· ENA: Total amount $750,000, purchased 741,687 ENA, with an average purchase price of $1.011 per ENA;

· ONDO: Total amount $250,000, purchased 134,216 ONDO, with an average purchase price of $1.86 per ONDO

Odaily later reported that World Liberty Financial announced a partnership with Ethena Labs, and the two parties are seeking long-term cooperation, starting with Ethena's revenue token sUSDe.

It can be seen that even after experiencing several pullbacks after breaking through the six-digit mark and a major plunge due to the hawkish Fed interest rate cut news, as of December 19, the six tokens purchased by WLFI still maintained gains within their 30-day trends: Bitcoin and Ethereum had gains of 10% and 15%, Chainlink had 65.1%, Aave had 103.9%, Ethena had 89.4%, and Ondo had 85.1%. In other words, WLFI's purchase targets did indeed become the market's direction during the uptrend, allowing them to retain their 30-day gains during major pullbacks.

So, what could be the next tokens WLFI might purchase?

What Is WLFI's Potential Next Purchase Asset?

We have three dimensions to speculate:

Polychain's Investment Assets

It can be seen on the official website that Luke Pearson from Polychain has become one of WLFI's advisors. (Information about other advisors and team members can be found in this article: Who Are the Decision Makers Behind the Trump Project WLFI Which Made a Large Purchase of Cryptocurrency?) A significant portion of the purchased tokens is likely to come from Polychain's investment portfolio. According to Rootdata, we can see that not every project in Polychain's investment portfolio has a native token, and those that can be considered as senior DeFi projects are even fewer.

Coingecko Top 100 DeFi Assets by Market Cap

Moreover, the assets previously purchased by WLFI were all in the Coingecko Top 100 by market cap list, likely due to considerations of volatility and drawdowns. Furthermore, considering the collaboration between WLFI and Ethena, the token purchases most likely also carried considerations for future collaborations; leveraging the purchased tokens' popularity and influence to collaborate with larger DeFi projects in the market and then contribute back to WLFI as a DeFi protocol's brand value.

COWSwap Listed Assets (Minor Impact)

WLFI uses the decentralized exchange platform CowSwap, which is one of the popular DEXs currently available, with products including AMM, among others. On the CowSwap interface, assets that have been officially verified by CowSwap and do not require manual entry of contracts can be found. If the selected network is Ethereum, there are a total of 374 assets available, making it the widest range to choose from. CowSwap does not support many networks, other than Ethereum, only Gnosis, Base, Arbitrum One, and the Sepolia testnet. WLFI's other purchases are also likely to have taken place on CowSwap, so the likelihood of DeFi projects on Solana is relatively lower. Of course, this factor's influence is relatively minor, as WLFI can still purchase assets from Solana-supported platforms, manual purchases, or OTC purchases of other projects.

Considering these factors, what tokens could be identified?

Considering both Polychain's investment projects, CowSwap's listed assets, and Coingecko's Top 100 Market Cap:

· Maker (MKR), recently rebranded as SKY

· Uniswap (UNI)

· DYDX (currently ranked 113 by market cap, not far off)

Additionally, if we consider projects with high brand value that are not in Polychain's portfolio, we can also include the following four coins: Lido, Pendle, Eigen, and Curve. These projects also have some "American attributes," making collaboration equally possible. If we expand the market cap a bit further back, then coins like 1inch and Morpho also have a smaller chance.

Overall, WLFI's investment strategy demonstrates a certain level of strategic thinking and shows strong fund operation capabilities. In the future, WLFI's buying targets may continue to focus on the top 100 market cap quality DeFi assets, and this recent significant pullback may also provide the best buying opportunity. During Trump's term, WLFI's buying actions may offer important signals for investment decisions.

Original Article Link

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China's Central Bank and Eight Other Departments' Latest Regulatory Focus: Key Attention to RWA Tokenized Asset Risk


Foreword: Today, the People's Bank of China's website published the "Notice of the People's Bank of China, National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Public Security, State Administration for Market Regulation, China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, China Securities Regulatory Commission, State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Further Preventing and Dealing with Risks Related to Virtual Currency and Others (Yinfa [2026] No. 42)", the latest regulatory requirements from the eight departments including the central bank, which are basically consistent with the regulatory requirements of recent years. The main focus of the regulation is on speculative activities such as virtual currency trading, exchanges, ICOs, overseas platform services, and this time, regulatory oversight of RWA has been added, explicitly prohibiting RWA tokenization, stablecoins (especially those pegged to the RMB). The following is the full text:


To the people's governments of all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps:


  Recently, there have been speculative activities related to virtual currency and Real-World Assets (RWA) tokenization, disrupting the economic and financial order and jeopardizing the property security of the people. In order to further prevent and address the risks related to virtual currency and Real-World Assets tokenization, effectively safeguard national security and social stability, in accordance with the "Law of the People's Republic of China on the People's Bank of China," "Law of the People's Republic of China on Commercial Banks," "Securities Law of the People's Republic of China," "Law of the People's Republic of China on Securities Investment Funds," "Law of the People's Republic of China on Futures and Derivatives," "Cybersecurity Law of the People's Republic of China," "Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Administration of Renminbi," "Regulations on Prevention and Disposal of Illegal Fundraising," "Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Foreign Exchange Administration," "Telecommunications Regulations of the People's Republic of China," and other provisions, after reaching consensus with the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Supreme People's Court, and the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and with the approval of the State Council, the relevant matters are notified as follows:


  I. Clarify the essential attributes of virtual currency, Real-World Assets tokenization, and related business activities


  (I) Virtual currency does not possess the legal status equivalent to fiat currency. Virtual currencies such as Bitcoin, Ether, Tether, etc., have the main characteristics of being issued by non-monetary authorities, using encryption technology and distributed ledger or similar technology, existing in digital form, etc. They do not have legal tender status, should not and cannot be circulated and used as currency in the market.


  The business activities related to virtual currency are classified as illegal financial activities. The exchange of fiat currency and virtual currency within the territory, exchange of virtual currencies, acting as a central counterparty in buying and selling virtual currencies, providing information intermediary and pricing services for virtual currency transactions, token issuance financing, and trading of virtual currency-related financial products, etc., fall under illegal financial activities, such as suspected illegal issuance of token vouchers, unauthorized public issuance of securities, illegal operation of securities and futures business, illegal fundraising, etc., are strictly prohibited across the board and resolutely banned in accordance with the law. Overseas entities and individuals are not allowed to provide virtual currency-related services to domestic entities in any form.


  A stablecoin pegged to a fiat currency indirectly fulfills some functions of the fiat currency in circulation. Without the consent of relevant authorities in accordance with the law and regulations, any domestic or foreign entity or individual is not allowed to issue a RMB-pegged stablecoin overseas.


(II)Tokenization of Real-World Assets refers to the use of encryption technology and distributed ledger or similar technologies to transform ownership rights, income rights, etc., of assets into tokens (tokens) or other interests or bond certificates with token (token) characteristics, and carry out issuance and trading activities.


  Engaging in the tokenization of real-world assets domestically, as well as providing related intermediary, information technology services, etc., which are suspected of illegal issuance of token vouchers, unauthorized public offering of securities, illegal operation of securities and futures business, illegal fundraising, and other illegal financial activities, shall be prohibited; except for relevant business activities carried out with the approval of the competent authorities in accordance with the law and regulations and relying on specific financial infrastructures. Overseas entities and individuals are not allowed to illegally provide services related to the tokenization of real-world assets to domestic entities in any form.


  II. Sound Work Mechanism


  (III) Inter-agency Coordination. The People's Bank of China, together with the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, and other departments, will improve the work mechanism, strengthen coordination with the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Supreme People's Court, and the Supreme People's Procuratorate, coordinate efforts, and overall guide regions to carry out risk prevention and disposal of virtual currency-related illegal financial activities.


  The China Securities Regulatory Commission, together with the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, the People's Bank of China, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, and other departments, will improve the work mechanism, strengthen coordination with the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Supreme People's Court, and the Supreme People's Procuratorate, coordinate efforts, and overall guide regions to carry out risk prevention and disposal of illegal financial activities related to the tokenization of real-world assets.


  (IV) Strengthening Local Implementation. The people's governments at the provincial level are overall responsible for the prevention and disposal of risks related to virtual currencies and the tokenization of real-world assets in their respective administrative regions. The specific leading department is the local financial regulatory department, with participation from branches and dispatched institutions of the State Council's financial regulatory department, telecommunications regulators, public security, market supervision, and other departments, in coordination with cyberspace departments, courts, and procuratorates, to improve the normalization of the work mechanism, effectively connect with the relevant work mechanisms of central departments, form a cooperative and coordinated working pattern between central and local governments, effectively prevent and properly handle risks related to virtual currencies and the tokenization of real-world assets, and maintain economic and financial order and social stability.


  III. Strengthened Risk Monitoring, Prevention, and Disposal


  (5) Enhanced Risk Monitoring. The People's Bank of China, China Securities Regulatory Commission, National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Public Security, State Administration of Foreign Exchange, Cyberspace Administration of China, and other departments continue to improve monitoring techniques and system support, enhance cross-departmental data analysis and sharing, establish sound information sharing and cross-validation mechanisms, promptly grasp the risk situation of activities related to virtual currency and real-world asset tokenization. Local governments at all levels give full play to the role of local monitoring and early warning mechanisms. Local financial regulatory authorities, together with branches and agencies of the State Council's financial regulatory authorities, as well as departments of cyberspace and public security, ensure effective connection between online monitoring, offline investigation, and fund tracking, efficiently and accurately identify activities related to virtual currency and real-world asset tokenization, promptly share risk information, improve early warning information dissemination, verification, and rapid response mechanisms.


  (6) Strengthened Oversight of Financial Institutions, Intermediaries, and Technology Service Providers. Financial institutions (including non-bank payment institutions) are prohibited from providing account opening, fund transfer, and clearing services for virtual currency-related business activities, issuing and selling financial products related to virtual currency, including virtual currency and related financial products in the scope of collateral, conducting insurance business related to virtual currency, or including virtual currency in the scope of insurance liability. Financial institutions (including non-bank payment institutions) are prohibited from providing custody, clearing, and settlement services for unauthorized real-world asset tokenization-related business and related financial products. Relevant intermediary institutions and information technology service providers are prohibited from providing intermediary, technical, or other services for unauthorized real-world asset tokenization-related businesses and related financial products.


  (7) Enhanced Management of Internet Information Content and Access. Internet enterprises are prohibited from providing online business venues, commercial displays, marketing, advertising, or paid traffic diversion services for virtual currency and real-world asset tokenization-related business activities. Upon discovering clues of illegal activities, they should promptly report to relevant departments and provide technical support and assistance for related investigations and inquiries. Based on the clues transferred by the financial regulatory authorities, the cyberspace administration, telecommunications authorities, and public security departments should promptly close and deal with websites, mobile applications (including mini-programs), and public accounts engaged in virtual currency and real-world asset tokenization-related business activities in accordance with the law.


  (8) Strengthened Entity Registration and Advertisement Management. Market supervision departments strengthen entity registration and management, and enterprise and individual business registrations must not contain terms such as "virtual currency," "virtual asset," "cryptocurrency," "crypto asset," "stablecoin," "real-world asset tokenization," or "RWA" in their names or business scopes. Market supervision departments, together with financial regulatory authorities, legally enhance the supervision of advertisements related to virtual currency and real-world asset tokenization, promptly investigating and handling relevant illegal advertisements.


  (IX) Continued Rectification of Virtual Currency Mining Activities. The National Development and Reform Commission, together with relevant departments, strictly controls virtual currency mining activities, continuously promotes the rectification of virtual currency mining activities. The people's governments of various provinces take overall responsibility for the rectification of "mining" within their respective administrative regions. In accordance with the requirements of the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments in the "Notice on the Rectification of Virtual Currency Mining Activities" (NDRC Energy-saving Building [2021] No. 1283) and the provisions of the "Guidance Catalog for Industrial Structure Adjustment (2024 Edition)," a comprehensive review, investigation, and closure of existing virtual currency mining projects are conducted, new mining projects are strictly prohibited, and mining machine production enterprises are strictly prohibited from providing mining machine sales and other services within the country.


  (X) Severe Crackdown on Related Illegal Financial Activities. Upon discovering clues to illegal financial activities related to virtual currency and the tokenization of real-world assets, local financial regulatory authorities, branches of the State Council's financial regulatory authorities, and other relevant departments promptly investigate, determine, and properly handle the issues in accordance with the law, and seriously hold the relevant entities and individuals legally responsible. Those suspected of crimes are transferred to the judicial authorities for processing according to the law.


 (XI) Severe Crackdown on Related Illegal and Criminal Activities. The Ministry of Public Security, the People's Bank of China, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, as well as judicial and procuratorial organs, in accordance with their respective responsibilities, rigorously crack down on illegal and criminal activities related to virtual currency, the tokenization of real-world assets, such as fraud, money laundering, illegal business operations, pyramid schemes, illegal fundraising, and other illegal and criminal activities carried out under the guise of virtual currency, the tokenization of real-world assets, etc.


  (XII) Strengthen Industry Self-discipline. Relevant industry associations should enhance membership management and policy advocacy, based on their own responsibilities, advocate and urge member units to resist illegal financial activities related to virtual currency and the tokenization of real-world assets. Member units that violate regulatory policies and industry self-discipline rules are to be disciplined in accordance with relevant self-regulatory management regulations. By leveraging various industry infrastructure, conduct risk monitoring related to virtual currency, the tokenization of real-world assets, and promptly transfer issue clues to relevant departments.


  IV. Strict Supervision of Domestic Entities Engaging in Overseas Business Activities


(XIII) Without the approval of relevant departments in accordance with the law and regulations, domestic entities and foreign entities controlled by them may not issue virtual currency overseas.


  (XIV) Domestic entities engaging directly or indirectly in overseas external debt-based tokenization of real-world assets, or conducting asset securitization activities abroad based on domestic ownership rights, income rights, etc. (hereinafter referred to as domestic equity), should be strictly regulated in accordance with the principles of "same business, same risk, same rules." The National Development and Reform Commission, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, and other relevant departments regulate it according to their respective responsibilities. For other forms of overseas real-world asset tokenization activities based on domestic equity by domestic entities, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, together with relevant departments, supervise according to their division of responsibilities. Without the consent and filing of relevant departments, no unit or individual may engage in the above-mentioned business.


  (15) Overseas subsidiaries and branches of domestic financial institutions providing Real World Asset Tokenization-related services overseas shall do so legally and prudently. They shall have professional personnel and systems in place to effectively mitigate business risks, strictly implement customer onboarding, suitability management, anti-money laundering requirements, and incorporate them into the domestic financial institutions' compliance and risk management system. Intermediaries and information technology service providers offering Real World Asset Tokenization services abroad based on domestic equity or conducting Real World Asset Tokenization business in the form of overseas debt for domestic entities directly or indirectly venturing abroad must strictly comply with relevant laws and regulations. They should establish and improve relevant compliance and internal control systems in accordance with relevant normative requirements, strengthen business and risk control, and report the business developments to the relevant regulatory authorities for approval or filing.


  V. Strengthen Organizational Implementation


  (16) Strengthen organizational leadership and overall coordination. All departments and regions should attach great importance to the prevention of risks related to virtual currencies and Real World Asset Tokenization, strengthen organizational leadership, clarify work responsibilities, form a long-term effective working mechanism with centralized coordination, local implementation, and shared responsibilities, maintain high pressure, dynamically monitor risks, effectively prevent and mitigate risks in an orderly and efficient manner, legally protect the property security of the people, and make every effort to maintain economic and financial order and social stability.


  (17) Widely carry out publicity and education. All departments, regions, and industry associations should make full use of various media and other communication channels to disseminate information through legal and policy interpretation, analysis of typical cases, and education on investment risks, etc. They should promote the illegality and harm of virtual currencies and Real World Asset Tokenization-related businesses and their manifestations, fully alert to potential risks and hidden dangers, and enhance public awareness and identification capabilities for risk prevention.


  VI. Legal Responsibility


  (18) Engaging in illegal financial activities related to virtual currencies and Real World Asset Tokenization in violation of this notice, as well as providing services for virtual currencies and Real World Asset Tokenization-related businesses, shall be punished in accordance with relevant regulations. If it constitutes a crime, criminal liability shall be pursued according to the law. For domestic entities and individuals who knowingly or should have known that overseas entities illegally provided virtual currency or Real World Asset Tokenization-related services to domestic entities and still assisted them, relevant responsibilities shall be pursued according to the law. If it constitutes a crime, criminal liability shall be pursued according to the law.


  (19) If any unit or individual invests in virtual currencies, Real World Asset Tokens, and related financial products against public order and good customs, the relevant civil legal actions shall be invalid, and any resulting losses shall be borne by them. If there are suspicions of disrupting financial order and jeopardizing financial security, the relevant departments shall deal with them according to the law.


  This notice shall enter into force upon the date of its issuance. The People's Bank of China and ten other departments' "Notice on Further Preventing and Dealing with the Risks of Virtual Currency Trading Speculation" (Yinfa [2021] No. 237) is hereby repealed.


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