A new cryptocurrency token from US President Donald Trump's family venture World Liberty Financial started trading on Monday, raking in billions of dollars with noticeable support from China's crypto community after his son's trip to Asia.

WLFI, first issued to private investors last year, became available on major cryptocurrency exchanges including Binance, OKX and Coinbase. Binance, founded by Chinese Canadian entrepreneur Zhao Changpeng, also known as CZ, was the first crypto exchange to list the token.

Zhao resigned from Binance in 2023 and is no longer involved in its management as part of an agreement with the US government, although he remains the largest shareholder. In July, Bloomberg reported that Binance played a key role in World Liberty Financial's stablecoin USD1, which Zhao denied and called the report a "hit piece". Zhao said during a podcast in May that he was seeking a pardon from President Trump.

Justin Sun, the founder of Tron, said in a social media post on Monday that the Trump family project would be "one of the biggest and most important projects in crypto".

Early on Tuesday, about 27.35 billion WLFI tokens were in circulation with a total market value of around US$6.5 billion, according to data on CoinGecko. The crypto token's price reached a high of US$0.33 shortly after its public debut before falling 16 per cent to US$0.23.

Cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun poses for a picture in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, on August 28, 2025. Photo: Nora Tam alt=Cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun poses for a picture in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, on August 28, 2025. Photo: Nora Tam>

There was a total supply of 100 billion WLFI tokens, of which DT Marks DEFI, an entity affiliated with the Trump family, holds 22.5 billion, according to the World Liberty Financial website.

The Trump family's move to make the WLFI token available for public purchase comes on the heels of its recent efforts to promote its crypto initiatives in Asia and court local crypto enthusiasts.

At the Bitcoin Asia conference in Hong Kong last week, Eric Trump, the second son of the US president, hailed China as "a hell of a power" in cryptocurrencies and thanked the city for an "incredible reception".

During his appearance at the conference, the younger Trump also gave an optimistic projection for bitcoin to reach US$1 million "in the next few years", and promoted World Liberty Financial's USD1 stablecoin.

Key executives from World Liberty Financial also met local industry heavyweights in efforts to boost ties. The Trump project's co-founders Chase Herro and Zak Folkman, also in Hong Kong last week, met local crypto executives including HashKey Group chairman and CEO Xiao Feng, Liquid Capital founder Jack Yi and Nano Labs chairman and CEO Jack Kong, according to social media posts and local media reports.

It is not known whether these crypto executives have invested in the new token. HashKey Group declined to comment.

Eric Trump also met Tron's Sun in Hong Kong, according to pictures posted on social media. After initially buying US$30 million worth of WLFI in November last year, Sun has increased his investment to nearly US$700 million, owning 2.99 per cent of the tokens, according to data from Arkam Intelligence. Sun said last week during an interview with the South China Morning Post that the US market would be a key focus in future.

Despite prompting Hong Kong government officials to pull out amid US-China trade tensions, Trump's attendance at Bitcoin Asia was seen by some as a positive sign for the city's digital asset development.

"[Eric Trump] is still highly regarded as one of the very key persons in the industry," said Jean-David Pequignot, chief commercial officer of crypto exchange Deribit. "And having him here in the conference ... shows that generally Hong Kong is welcoming towards industry leaders and wanting them to speak here."

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2025 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

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