In brief
- World Liberty Financial airdropped $47 worth of its USD1 stablecoin to holders of its governance token on Wednesday.
- The total value of the airdrop, which reached over 85,000 wallets, was just north of $4 million.
- The project teased that it may soon make its governance token, WLFI, tradable.
World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s Ethereum-based crypto platform, successfully completed its first widescale airdrop Wednesday, sending $47 worth of its stablecoin to tens of thousands of user wallets.
All crypto wallets holding any amount of WLFI, the project’s governance token, were eligible to receive the airdrop, according to a proposal that passed last month. Crypto users in certain jurisdictions including New York, however, were excluded from the giveaway for legal reasons.
According to on-chain data, some 85,300 Ethereum wallets received $47 worth of World Liberty’s new stablecoin, USD1, overnight. The total value of the giveaway, therefore, was just north of $4 million.
“No claims. No links. No drama. Just sent,” World Liberty’s X account posted Wednesday. “That went smooth.”
Airdrops are a popular mechanism employed by crypto projects to reward early holders of a token and incentivize their adoption. Such motivations are particularly relevant in the case of WLFI, which currently cannot be traded and only allows holders to vote on World Liberty governance proposals, such as the one that enabled today’s airdrop.
According to World Liberty, the USD1 giveaway was also designed to test the platform’s airdrop mechanism and “ensure smart contract functionality and readiness.” Since its debut in September, World Liberty has slowly but steadily built out its offerings, including WLFI and USD1, but has yet to introduce its long promised, core functionality: as a decentralized finance protocol offering users crypto borrowing and lending services and other trading services.
Such caution has not only to do with the technical complexity posed by offering such amenities, but also the legal complications. In the past, U.S.-based DeFi protocols have faced legal threats from the SEC and the IRS. Since returning to office, however, President Donald Trump—who along with his family owns a majority stake in World Liberty—has eliminated these barriers.
Now, the rollout of World Liberty’s full-throated platform may be on the horizon. On Wednesday the project teased the possibility of making its WLFI token tradable, a key step towards launching its DeFi services.
A World Liberty representative did not pinpoint the timing of such a move when asked by Decrypt. They did clarify that only WLFI holders based in New York did not receive today’s airdrop.
UPDATE (June 4, 2025, 5:26 p.m. ET): Adds paragraph with World Liberty representative response.
Edited by James Rubin
Daily Debrief Newsletter
Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
