The World Liberty Financial cryptocurrency project, led by President Donald Trump, announced on Monday that it had raised $250 million in its second token sale, bringing the total number of tokens sold to $550 million.
TakeAway Points:
- World Liberty Financial reported that it raised an extra $250 million at the completion of its second token sale.
- According to the project, which debuted in October, its first sale brought around $300 million.
- U.S. Vice President JD Vance anticipates the basic language of an agreement to settle the ownership of the social media platform TikTok by the deadline of April 5.
World liberty financial crypto project
WLFI, a venture backed by the first family that describes itself as a sort of crypto banking platform, launched in October, weeks before Trump’s election victory. In a document published at the time of launch, WLFI said the Trump family could take home 75% of net revenue.
In Monday’s release, WLFI said more than 85,000 participants underwent so-called know-your-customer verification to gain access to the token sale. Co-founder Zach Witkoff, son of billionaire U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, is quoted in the release as saying that “WLFI is on track to supercharge DeFi,” or decentralized finance.
In January, Tron blockchain founder Justin Sun upped his stake in WLFI tokens to $75 million. A court filing the following month showed that Sun and the SEC were exploring a resolution to the regulator’s civil fraud case against the crypto entrepreneur.
WLFI is one of several crypto projects in the Trump family that are kicking off just as the president is pushing a crypto-friendly agenda. Earlier this month, President Trump signed an executive order to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
According to a memo from the White House last week, David Sacks, the Trump administration’s AI and crypto czar, sold over $200 million worth of digital asset-related investments personally and through his firm, Craft Ventures, before starting the job. Sacks said in a podcast that he “didn’t want to even have the appearance of a conflict.
At the end of February, the SEC declared that meme tokens are not securities. The announcement came after the president and First Lady Melania Trump launched their own meme coins in the days leading up to the inauguration.
Vice President Vance expects framework of TikTok deal by April 5
U.S. Vice President JD Vance expects the general terms of an agreement to resolve the ownership of social media platform TikTok in time for an April 5 deadline, according to two White House officials.
TikTok’s fate has been up in the air since a law requiring its Chinese owner ByteDance to either sell it on national security grounds or face a ban took effect on January 19.
U.S. President Donald Trump, after taking office on January 20, signed an executive order seeking to delay by 75 days the enforcement of the law.
The Republican president tapped Vance and national security adviser Michael Waltz last month to oversee the potential sale of the social media app. Last weekend, he said his administration was in touch with four different groups who were interested in a deal.
“There will almost certainly be a high-level agreement that I think satisfies our national security concerns, allows there to be a distinct American TikTok enterprise,” Vance said during an interview aboard Air Force Two with NBC News, which first reported his expectation that deal terms would soon be reached.
One White House official said there may be additional work needed after the April 5 deadline on the finer points of the deal.
