The Funding: Why Trump-linked crypto project World Liberty Financial flopped

The Donald Trump-linked crypto project World Liberty Financial (WLF) put forward a grand vision when it said it aimed to "shake up the crypto world with something HUGE."

Only, its token sale has been anything but.

Instead of substantial amounts flowing into its coffers, the project has failed to see anything close to its initial targets for the sale. After hoping to raise $300 million by selling 20% of the token supply at a $1.5 billion valuation, WLF has managed to rake in just $13.5 million so far . That's not even 5% of its goal.

Investors didn't need to look far to find possible reasons why. In a 13-page "gold paper" released earlier this week, WLF said that DT Marks DEFI LLC, connected to the Trump family, has a right to receive 75% of the net protocol revenues and $337.5 million in WLFI tokens at the token sale price. Jehan Chu, co-founder and managing partner of Kenetic Capital, told me this "created doubt in even the most die-hard supporters about the viability of the project from an investment standpoint."

Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, concurred with Chu, telling me the whole thing "looks like a bit of a cash grab."

"While Trump has indicated his support for the crypto industry, he and his family have not yet demonstrated that they truly understand the spirit and ethos of web3, which is very much about sharing the network effect and community building," Siu said.

Chu added that the WLFI token sale's restriction to accredited U.S. investors prevented everyday retail investors from participating. He also said that doubts about the credibility of two of WLF's five co-founders, Chase Herro and Zak Folkman, likely dampened investor interest.

Herro and Folkman previously co-founded Dough Finance , a DeFi lending project that lost $2 million in a hack this July. They have reportedly also been involved in multiple lawsuits across the U.S. In 2017, for instance, Herro, Folkman and others were said to be sued by a real estate company for causing over $75,000 in damage to a rental property and not paying 11 months' rent. The case was reportedly settled in 2019, and both denied the claims. Folkman reportedly also ran a dating advisory business, describing the aim as "to take girls home and have sex."

Weak tokenomics and the co-founders' controversial history aren't the only concerns surrounding WLF. The project plans to launch an instance of Aave's v3 platform on Ethereum, offering liquidity for ether, wrapped bitcoin, stablecoins and potentially other digital assets before expanding to Layer 2 network Scroll. Joe McCann, founder and CIO of Asymmetric Financial, described it to me as "just another borrow/lending app which was innovative five years ago." Plus, the project's gold paper specifies that the WLFI tokens will be non-transferable for at least a year, which raises concerns about liquidity. Even after that period, trading would only be possible if governance changes are approved and if those changes comply with applicable laws, leaving investors with limited options.

The project faced technical problems during the token sale — as the website crashed for extended periods due to inadequate autoscaling — which didn't help either.

A source familiar with the matter told The Block that the WLFI public token sale figure of $13.5 million so far isn't necessarily the whole picture. Some buyers have gone directly through the team rather than interacting with the website. But even considering that, it's clear the project has gotten off to a bad start — and it will be an uphill battle from here.

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