Trump-Backed World Liberty Launches a WLFI Buyback as Democrats Circle
Key Takeaways
- World Liberty Financial said on Nov. 6 it will fund WLFI buybacks partly with fees earned on USD1 reserves.
- USD1 supply has fallen to about $3.63B, down from $4.43B in late September and a $5.39B peak in February.
- Rep. Robert Garcia’s Oversight panel could open probes into the firm as early as February 2027.
The Announcement
The Trump-backed decentralized finance (DeFi) project posted early Friday:
“The success of USD1 and the growing WLFI ecosystem is helping us launch a new WLFI token buyback program to strengthen the WLFI ecosystem and governance.”
The firm said it plans to fund the buybacks “with an initial allocation that may include fees earned from USD1 reserves and other sources,” with no further dollar figure, schedule or burn commitment being provided.
Projects such as Hyperliquid and Pump.fun already use platform fees to buy back their own tokens, but what sets WLFI’s version apart is the source, i.e. interest earned on the Treasury bills and cash backing a dollar stablecoin (which would normally go to the issuer’s shareholders but is now getting recycled into the governance token).
The Numbers
The timing points to pressure, not momentum and according to Defillama’s stablecoin data, USD1’s circulating supply currently stands at about $3.63 billion, down from roughly $4.43 billion in late September and well below its February peak of about $5.39 billion. A smaller float means smaller reserve income to fund buybacks.
WLFI is trading at about $0.0476, giving it a market value of roughly $1.51 billion. Trump-linked tokens were among the hardest hit after the vote, and Bitcoin.com News reported the same following the Democrats’ victory.
World Liberty Financial is also fighting on another front as Tron founder Justin Sun is seeking sanctions against the project in an ongoing dispute with the company.
Democrats Have It in Their Sights
The buyback announcements come at a time when the overarching political climate is becoming increasingly hostile for Trump and co. To elaborate, Rep. Robert Garcia, expected to chair the House Oversight Committee, sent the administration a two-word message after Democrats took the House: “Lawyer up.”
Fortune further reported that World Liberty Financial is likely going to be among the first targets, with inquiries starting “as early as February.”
The same report says Trump’s crypto ventures have earned him more than $1 billion and notes that an Emirati royal bought a $500 million stake in World Liberty. Trump’s pardon of Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao, who helped the family launch its stablecoin, is also expected to be reviewed.
Bitcoin.com News covered how Congressional Democrats plan to go after those ventures.
Lastly, the Senate looks no friendlier and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has repeatedly gone after World Liberty this year, is expected to chair the Senate Banking Committee, according to the WSJ. Earlier in February, she wrote to the Treasury and the Fed, warning that a bailout could enrich the Trump family through the firm.
