Huobi (HTX) has announced it will be the first major exchange to list World Liberty Financial ($WLFI), a decentralized finance (DeFi) project funded by members of the Donald Trump family. Deposits for WLFI began on August 29, 2025, at 18:00 UTC+8, with trading set to commence on September 1, 2025.
World Liberty Financial aims to blend traditional finance (TradFi) and DeFi, offering opportunities for both retail and institutional investors. Its ecosystem features two tokens: $WLFI as a governance token granting voting rights, and USD1, a stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the US dollar, reportedly backed by US Treasury securities and cash deposits. The project gained significant attention earlier this year after reports indicated it secured over $500 million in funding.
Pre-launch trading data shows WLFI's price surged 19% in 24 hours to over $0.30, according to HTX market data. Coinglass reports open interest in WLFI futures contracts reached $423 million, with 24-hour trading volume hitting $755 million. The network-wide long/short ratio stands at 0.947.
On-chain data reveals that 14.59 billion WLFI tokens (14.59% of total supply) have been transferred into a Lockbox contract, valued at approximately $4.1 billion at current prices. Early investors who participated in buy rounds at $0.015 and $0.05 will unlock 20% of their tokens at launch, with the remaining 80% subject to community voting. Tokens belonging to the founding team, advisors, and partners will remain locked.
The Trump family's involvement adds a political dimension to the launch, attracting both enthusiasm and scrutiny. While many traders are excited about WLFI's potential to disrupt DeFi, others express concerns about liquidity, exchange capacity, and regulatory scrutiny, particularly given increased US regulatory attention on politically affiliated digital assets.