A new cryptocurrency backed by Donald Trump has sold just 3 per cent of its allocated tokens following its launch on Tuesday.
The Republican presidential candidate, who claims he will be the first “crypto president”, publicly supported the World Liberty Financial project on X (formerly Twitter) shortly after its WLFI token went on sale.
Despite the endorsement, only $11 million of the $300 million sales target has been reached at the time of writing – 24 hours after the project launched to the public. The website also crashed soon after going live, though it has since been restored.
The site received more than 72 million unique visitors in its first hour, according to WLFI advisor Sandy Peng, with almost 2,900 investors buying the token – less than 0.01 per cent of those who visited.
The WLFI token, which is currently non-transferable, offers owners the opportunity to vote on governance matters of the World Liberty Financial platform, including promotional partnerships and technical changes.
Only 63 per cent of the overall tokens have been made available to the public, with 17 per cent set aside for user rewards and 20 per cent for “team compensation” for Trump family members and others involved in the project.
Trump holds the role of “chief crypto advocate” at World Liberty Financial, while his son Barron is named as the project’s “DeFi visionary”. His two other sons, Eric and Donald Jr, are listed as “web3 ambassadors”.
Influenced by the original bitcoin white paper, World Liberty Financial published a “gold paper” on Tuesday that outlined the project.
“World Liberty Financial, inspired by the vision of Donald J. Trump, is intended to be more than a decentralised finance platform: it’s a movement to help secure the future of the US Dollar in a digital world, without succumbing to the centralised control of Central Bank Digital Currencies,” the paper claimed.
“With $WLFI, you are a participant, you are a voter, and you can be a part of the future of decentralised finance.”