Forward the Original Title‘Is the Trump Family Entering the Stablecoin Sector? An Overview of the “Presidential Stablecoin” USD1 on BSC’

The ever-active BSC ecosystem witnessed another wave of excitement early this morning. A DeFi project supported by the Trump family, World Liberty Financial (WLFI), launched a USD-pegged stablecoin called USD1 on BSC. Following a retweet of the news by CZ (Changpeng Zhao), the community quickly jumped on the bandwagon, creating a token with the same name that immediately entered “money-sucking mode.”

Due to the proliferation of scam tokens with the same name, both CZ and the official WLFI account issued warnings to users, urging them to be cautious and avoid falling victim to scams. Following these warnings, the price of USD1 quickly retraced and has since fallen by over 50% from its peak at the time of writing.

The total supply of USD1 exceeds $3.5 million. According to data from Etherscan and BscScan, the project issued the World Liberty Financial USD (USD1) token in early March. CZ confirmed that the stablecoin contract has been deployed on both the BNB Chain and Ethereum, though it is currently only available for testing by a limited number of addresses.

Why is WLFI Targeting Stablecoins?

The reason WLFI is targeting the stablecoin sector may lie in its developmental trajectory. Since launching its initial token sale in October last year, WLFI has aimed to become a “new benchmark for decentralized finance,” promoting its vision to investors in the U.S. and globally. Donald Trump himself serves as the “Chief Crypto Advocate,” while his three sons hold titles such as “Ambassador” and “DeFi Visionary,” with the family’s aura being the project’s greatest selling point. However, difficulties in the initial fundraising round and the perception of WLFI as a “meme project” have led to widespread skepticism.

Stablecoin projects often flourish even during bear markets, providing WLFI with not only trading, lending, and liquidity opportunities but also the potential for substantial long-term returns. Following the launch of USD1, it could become a major gateway for attracting funds from both institutions and retail investors, potentially helping WLFI shed its “meme project” label and transition into a legitimate DeFi player. According to data from WLFIArtemis and Dune, the number of active stablecoin wallets increased by over 50% between February 2024 and February 2025. In March of this year, the total market cap of stablecoins surpassed $230 billion, with USDT and USDC still dominating the market. By entering the market at this time, WLFI may leverage favorable policy winds to capture a share of the market.

Since Trump’s election, he has repeatedly voiced public support for the growth of cryptocurrencies, pledging to transform the United States into a “global crypto hub” and emphasizing the U.S. dollar’s dominance in the digital economy. As an essential vehicle for digitizing the dollar, stablecoins have naturally become a policy focal point.

Related reading: “Why Did the Crypto Market Lose $900 Billion While Stablecoin Market Cap Hit a Record High”

The launch of USD1 coincides with a critical period as the U.S. Congress reviews the “Guiding and Enabling Innovation in Stablecoins Act” (GENIUS Act). On March 13, the bill passed the Senate Banking Committee with an 18-6 vote and is now moving toward a full Senate vote. This marks a significant step toward the bill becoming law and signifies the first time that stablecoin regulations have gained approval at the Senate committee level.

Bo Hines, Executive Director of the Presidential Digital Assets Advisory Committee, expects the bill to be ready for Trump’s signature by June. Kristin Smith, CEO of the Blockchain Association, predicts that U.S. Congress may pass stablecoin-related legislation by August 2025, with the GENIUS Act seen as a key driver of this progress. If WLFI can refine USD1 early, it not only has the potential to achieve compliance quickly after the bill’s enactment but could also leverage Trump’s influence to secure a regulatory “green channel.”

Riding the Wave or Another Trump Family “Cash Grab”?

Since Trump returned to the White House as the “Crypto President,” every move by him and his family-backed project, WLFI, has become a key indicator of trends in the crypto space. Following CZ’s return, the BSC ecosystem has been heating up, with trading volumes rebounding and meme coins fueled by “husband-and-wife hype” creating a lively market. Meanwhile, stablecoins have remained in the spotlight as a “safe haven” during the bear market. WLFI’s launch of USD1 combines three major advantages — Trump’s influence, the booming BSC ecosystem, and the appeal of stablecoins — making it naturally a high-profile event.

Although the timing seems perfect, WLFI’s entry into the stablecoin space was not a spur-of-the-moment decision but a well-planned strategy. As early as October 14 last year, former Paxos CEO Rich Teo joined WLFI as head of stablecoin and payment operations, which had already sparked speculation in the market about WLFI’s ambition to venture into the stablecoin sector.

Later, on October 29, Decrypt cited sources reporting that WLFI planned to develop its own stablecoin. At that time, the project had already raised $14 million through its initial token sale, although the product still required further refinement to ensure security.

On March 13 this year, Bloomberg reported that WLFI had been in secret talks with Binance. Four sources familiar with the matter revealed that the two parties had discussed the possibility of jointly developing a USD-pegged stablecoin. Although the details of the negotiations were not disclosed, the decision to launch USD1 on BSC now seems to align perfectly with these earlier discussions.

While USD1 is not yet tradable, speculation is already swirling about whether this is another Trump-style cash grab. After all, the crypto market has been whipsawed this year by Trump’s tariffs, meme coin manipulations, and post-pump sell-offs. Just two days ago, he passionately hyped his $TRUMP token, declaring, “I LOVE $TRUMP — SO COOL!!! The Greatest of them all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Yet, the market seemed unimpressed this time, with $TRUMP only rising about 12% before quickly retracing.

Related reading: “Is Trump Still Good for Crypto?”

As far as USD1 itself is concerned, is its collateral mechanism transparent? When will the audit report be released? These critical details remain undisclosed. Moreover, concerns about WLFI’s financial interests and related benefit transfers have been the subject of ongoing controversy. Since WLFI’s platform launch in September 2024, many operational details have remained opaque. According to its official website, Trump and certain family members collectively hold 60% equity in the company. As of March 14, the project had completed two public token sales, raising a total of $550 million. According to the World Liberty initial token sale issuance documents, Trump and his affiliated company DT Marks DEFI LLC will receive 75% of the net income as fees — a staggering $390 million in profits.

The bigger question may lie in Trump’s true motives. Is his pro-crypto stance sincerely promoting the development of the industry, or is it a strategy to maximize family wealth by exploiting the crypto sector? Whether WLFI can break free from accusations of being a “cash grab” and the “meme project” stigma to become a true builder in the DeFi space remains to be seen. Ultimately, only time will tell.

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