Since May 2025, the decentralized finance (DeFi) project World Liberty Financial (WLFI), led by the Trump family, has launched the USD-pegged stablecoin USD1, which has swept the crypto market. This stablecoin, humorously dubbed the "Presidential Family Coin" by outsiders, has not only risen to the fifth position in global stablecoin market capitalization within just a few months but has also sparked heated discussions in the global financial industry due to its strong political and capital backing.
Accelerating Progress: USD1's Multi-Chain Layout and Ecological Expansion
Since its official launch on March 25, 2025, USD1 has rapidly completed multi-chain deployment and ecological integration. As of May 16, 2025, USD1 has been natively issued on three mainstream public chains: Ethereum, BNB Chain, and TRON, demonstrating strong cross-chain compatibility. On-chain data shows that the total circulation of USD1 has reached 2.13 billion coins, with a market capitalization of approximately $2.13 billion, ranking fifth among global stablecoins, only behind USDT, USDC, DAI, and USDe.
The ecological expansion of USD1 is equally noteworthy. According to PANews, USD1 has integrated with over 10 DeFi protocols and applications, including leading projects like Venus Protocol, Meson Finance, Lista DAO, and Pyth Network. Notably, Venus Protocol announced on May 15 that USD1 would be available on its decentralized lending platform based on BNB Chain, allowing users to earn yields by depositing USD1 or borrow to obtain XVS tokens. The cross-chain DEX Meson Finance and the all-chain liquidity infrastructure StakeStone have also announced support for USD1, further solidifying its application scenarios in the DeFi space.
Even more strikingly, USD1 has broken through DeFi boundaries and entered Web3 consumption scenarios. The global travel and consumption platform Umy announced that users can use USD1 to book over a million hotels and luxury travel services worldwide on Ethereum and BNB Chain. The payment ecosystem Pundi X's XPOS and Pundi X Pay have also fully integrated USD1, supporting offline retail consumption. The decentralized wallet TokenPocket and the HOT Wallet from the TG ecosystem have similarly announced support for USD1, providing users with convenient storage and payment experiences.
Dual Support of Capital and Politics: The "Hardcore" Background of USD1
As the core crypto project of the Trump family, USD1 is personally operated by Eric Trump, the second son of Donald Trump. Family members hold 60% of the shares in WLFI and have profited significantly from token sales. According to issuance documents, the Trump-affiliated company DT Marks DeFi LLC can extract 75% of the net income from WLFI, bringing the family approximately $390 million in revenue from just two rounds of token sales.
On the capital side, USD1 has received $75 million in funding support from TRON founder Justin Sun. Sun not only serves as an advisor to WLFI but also promoted the native issuance of USD1 on the TRON chain. On May 1, 2025, Justin Sun appeared alongside Eric Trump and WLFI co-founder Zach Witkoff at the Token 2049 summit in Dubai, publicly stating that the initial minting scale of USD1 would reach hundreds of millions of dollars, with the potential to exceed billions in market capitalization in the future.
More notably, the Abu Dhabi investment firm MGX completed a $2 billion investment in Binance through USD1, a transaction personally confirmed by Binance founder Changpeng Zhao. On-chain monitoring platform Lookonchain revealed that market maker DWF Labs deployed six DeFi liquidity pools for USD1, with a total value of $18 million, and subscribed to $25 million in WLFI tokens, providing strong liquidity support for USD1.
The asset security of USD1 is also noteworthy. It is 100% backed by U.S. short-term government bonds, dollar deposits, and cash equivalents, with reserves managed by the world's largest independent custodian, BitGo, which undergoes regular third-party audits and incorporates Chainlink's Proof of Reserve (PoR) mechanism to ensure transparency and traceability.
Policy Winds and Conflicts of Interest: The Double-Edged Sword of USD1
The rise of USD1 coincides with a critical turning point in U.S. crypto policy. In March 2025, the U.S. Congress reviewed the "Guidance and Establishment of the U.S. Stablecoin National Innovation Act" (GENIUS Act), which passed the Senate Banking Committee and is expected to be submitted for Trump's signature by June. This bill aims to provide stablecoin issuers with a regulatory framework similar to that of traditional banks, potentially offering USD1 a "green light" for compliance and market access.
However, five Democratic senators sent a letter to the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in March 2025, warning that USD1 poses an "unprecedented conflict of interest" that could jeopardize the safety of the financial system. The letter pointed out that Trump has strengthened the White House's control over policy through executive orders, and family projects may receive undue preferential treatment in regulatory approvals, violating regulations that prohibit U.S. government employees from participating in matters affecting personal financial interests.
Additionally, the market prospects for USD1 are not without risks. Tether (USDT) and Circle (USDC) have long occupied nearly 90% of the stablecoin market share, with the total market capitalization of global stablecoins surpassing $200 billion in January 2025, and the number of active wallets for USDT and USDC increasing by over 50% year-on-year. As a new player, USD1 must confront giants in terms of brand trust, ecological construction, and global market expansion. Expert Kevin Lehtiniitty warned, "Launching a stablecoin is easy, but building a widely adopted ecosystem is extremely difficult."
Future Outlook: The Ambitions and Challenges of USD1
USD1's positioning is clear and grand: to serve institutional investors and sovereign funds, focusing on three major scenarios: cross-border payments, DeFi settlements, and offline consumption. WLFI co-founder Zach Witkoff emphasized that USD1 combines the credibility of traditional finance with the technological advantages of DeFi, aiming to "provide seamless and secure digital dollar tools for sovereign investors and large institutions." WLFI also plans to deepen cooperation with DeFi projects such as Sui, Ondo Finance, and Aave, and promote the integration of USD1 with traditional retail POS systems, allowing users to directly use stablecoins in daily consumption.
In terms of community governance, USD1 has launched a wallet user airdrop testing governance proposal, with a voting support rate as high as 99.96%, demonstrating strong community cohesion. Centralized exchanges HTX and MEXC have listed the USD1/USDT trading pair, with HTX announcing the first USD1 deposit service on May 5, marking the rapid entry of USD1 into mainstream trading markets.
However, the future of USD1 is not without challenges. The global nature of the stablecoin market requires USD1 to quickly expand its user base outside the U.S., while USDT and USDC have already accumulated a large user base and usage scenarios worldwide. Furthermore, the Federal Reserve and the Treasury may impose stricter scrutiny on the cross-border payment functions of stablecoins, and the political label of the Trump family may make it a focal point in policy games.
This article represents the author's personal views and does not reflect the position or views of this platform. This article is for informational sharing only and does not constitute any investment advice to anyone.
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