Trump's crypto company launches strategic 'token reserve'

By Michelle Conlin

NEW YORK (Reuters) - World Liberty Financial, the new crypto platform in which President Donald Trump holds a financial stake, announced that it was unveiling a strategic token reserve designed to bolster Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies "that are at the forefront of reshaping global finance."

WLF said in a statement posted on X on Tuesday that its new token reserve would enable it to mitigate market volatility, empower the company to invest in innovative projects in decentralized finance, and develop a well-capitalized reserve. It also said it would seek strategic partnerships with financial institutions to contribute tokenized assets to the WLF reserve.

WLF did not respond to a request for comment. The White House and the Trump Organization also did not respond to requests for comment.

The announcement comes at a time when Trump and his family businesses are increasingly turning to making money from the world of crypto.

In addition to WLF, the Trump family's holdings include a majority stake in Trump Media & Technology Group, a social-media-and-streaming company that on January 29 announced it was pivoting into financial services tied to crypto.

Three days before his inauguration, the president also launched his $Trump meme coin.

Millions of dollars, including $100 million in fees alone off of the meme coin, have poured into entities connected to the president's new suite of crypto companies. WLF has already seen token sales of $500 million, by Reuters calculations.

In January, Trump said his assets, which are in a revokable trust, would be managed by his children while he is in office.

World Liberty Financial launched two months ahead of the U.S. presidential election. Trump and his affiliates own a 60% stake in its holding company and are entitled to 75% of revenues and 22.5 billion tokens, according to the company's website.

The news comes just three days after Donald Trump Jr., the president's eldest son, made a surprise appearance at the Ondo Summit in New York City, billed as Wall Street 2.0.

There, Trump and company founders told attendees, most of whom were from traditional finance, that WLF's aim was to bridge the gap between the world of crypto and mainstream retail investors such as teachers, firemen and dentists.

Donald Trump Jr. emphasized the need for a regulatory framework that would allow “crypto to flourish.” Crypto, he said, is the “future of finance” and the “future of American hegemony.”

(Reporting By Michelle Conlin and Lawrence Delevingne; Editing by Leslie Adler)