Donald Trump’s crypto experiment, World Liberty Financial (WLFI), was on the verge of a spectacular collapse. Despite weeks of relentless promotion by the president-elect and his sons, the venture failed to capture the interest of the community the way they wanted it to.
Hardly anyone was talking about WLFI. Sales figures were down 93% from its ambitious target. And worse, the project couldn’t even clear the basic financial threshold required to trigger a payout to Trump. The venture, marketed as a way to “make finance great again,” was crashing before it could take off.
Then came Justin Sun. The young crypto mogul, famous for both his eccentricity and a flair for controversies, stepped in with a $30 million investment on November 25.
His cash injection didn’t just save WLFI from outright humiliation, it literally single-handedly crossed the financial threshold needed to unlock Trump’s $15 million payout. And just like that, Justin became the unlikely savior of Trump’s Web3 ambitions.
Justin Sun, Trump, and the WLFI power play
Days before bailing out WLFI, Justin shelled out $6.2 million for an artwork that consisted of a banana duct-taped to a wall. But his bizarre spending habits pale in comparison to the legal storm surrounding him.
The artwork, titled Comedian, was created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan and comes with instructions to replace the banana once it rots. “I want to tape my banana on the wall of the White House,” Justin declared during a press conference in Hong Kong, where he also ate the banana.
In 2023, the SEC filed a lawsuit accusing Justin of using fake trades to pump the price of his cryptocurrency TRON (TRX). He has denied the allegations, and while the case remains unresolved, his reputation in crypto circles is anything but spotless.
In 2019, Justin paid $4.5 million for a charity lunch with Warren Buffett. In 2021, he dropped $500,000 on an NFT rock. And in 2022, he floated plans to rescue the collapsed crypto exchange FTX, a promise that never materialized.
Earlier this year, he announced a $1 billion crypto recovery fund, which also fizzled out. Critics often accuse Justin of prioritizing publicity over substance.
Justin’s involvement in WLFI comes with a twist. Trump, listed as WLFI’s “Chief Crypto Advocate,” has also brought his sons Eric, Don Jr., and Barron into the fold as “Web3 Ambassadors.”
According to WLFI’s “gold paper,” 75% of all revenue generated goes straight to Trump’s company, DT Marks DEFI LLC. The tokens themselves, however, offer little to investors. They don’t promise a share in the company’s profits and can’t even be resold unless project rules change.
Despite this, Justin was named an adviser to WLFI. Admittedly, his decision to invest (and do so publicly) raises questions about his motives. But Justin has downplayed expectations of favors from Trump, insisting that his involvement is purely business.
“World Liberty Financial can be a beacon to move forward the whole blockchain industry in the US,” Justin said during an interview from Hong Kong, where he now resides. He believes the U.S. crypto market has been hampered by the SEC’s “regulation by enforcement” approach, and sees WLFI as a potential catalyst for change.
Trump’s sudden embrace of crypto was a sharp U-turn. He once dismissed Bitcoin as a “scam,” but his tone shifted when deep-pocketed crypto investors began backing his political campaigns. WLFI has become the centerpiece of this pivot.
The president declared in one video: “We’re embracing the future with crypto and leaving the slow and outdated big banks behind.”
During his presidency, foreign governments funneled millions of dollars into his Washington, D.C., hotel — a conflict of interest that now looks tame compared to the direct financial pipeline WLFI creates.
The SEC, crime syndicates, and TRON’s shady legacy
Justin’s legal troubles with the SEC aren’t his only headaches. His TRON blockchain, launched in 2017, has been a magnet for illicit activity. According to a March report from blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs, TRON hosted 45% of all illicit crypto flows last year, more than Bitcoin or Ethereum.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has also flagged TRON as the preferred blockchain for Asian crime syndicates. Justin has pushed back against these accusations, highlighting a September partnership with TRM Labs to fight crypto crime.
“Illicit activity is not welcome in our industry,” he has said. Still, TRON’s reputation remains tainted. Earlier this year, Circle Internet Financial, which operates the USDC stablecoin, cut ties with TRON, citing “risk management” concerns.
WLFI’s founders and Trump’s shilling spree
WLFI’s origins are as unorthodox as its business model. The project’s founders, Chase Herro and Zachary Folkman, aren’t exactly crypto veterans. Folkman previously taught “pick-up artist” classes, while Herro built his reputation selling colon cleanses and get-rich-quick seminars.
Yet somehow, they managed to align themselves with Trump’s sons, forging a partnership that has propelled WLFI into the spotlight.
Justin has praised Trump’s pledge to replace SEC Chair Gary Gensler with someone more sympathetic to crypto, describing Gensler’s enforcement actions as “name-driven” and overly aggressive. Gensler, meanwhile, has since taken the hint and announced he’d be stepping down himself on Inauguration Day.
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