Trump-linked WLFI Launches: World Liberty Financial launched its WLFI token on Monday. The crypto venture is closely tied to U.S. President Donald Trump and several family members, who serve as founders. The project has rolled out a stablecoin called USD1 and appears positioned to enter the decentralized finance (DeFi) space—the ecosystem of financial services built on blockchain technology without traditional intermediaries.
On launch day, WLFI spiked to 40 cents before retreating to its current level around 20 cents. Despite trading in cents, WLFI commands a total market value exceeding $20 billion. However, this figure comes with significant caveats: only 25% of the total token supply currently circulates, with the remainder locked in vesting schedules. Even accounting for just the circulating supply, WLFI ranks as the 28th largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
The Trump family reportedly holds approximately 22.5 billion tokens, translating to roughly $4.68 billion at current prices. These holdings remain largely illiquid due to vesting restrictions. The massive valuation appears disconnected from fundamentals, considering World Liberty Financial has yet to launch substantial products or demonstrate clear utility for its token.
Stripe Announces Its Own Blockchain: Payment infrastructure leader Stripe revealed Tempo last week, a purpose-built blockchain optimized for stablecoin payments and transfers. The company partnered with prominent crypto venture fund Paradigm to develop the network, attracting an impressive roster of collaborators including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Deutsche Bank. Tempo has entered its private testnet phase, with public testing likely to follow soon.
The crypto community's reaction proved largely negative, with many questioning why Stripe chose to fragment the ecosystem by creating yet another blockchain rather than leveraging existing decentralized networks with proven track records like Ethereum or Solana. Building sufficient network effects and achieving meaningful adoption from zero presents enormous challenges. However, Stripe and its partners possess unmatched distribution capabilities—if any consortium could successfully launch a new blockchain, this group arguably stands the best chance.
Ethereum’s Institutional Arm Raises $40 Million: Throughout last year, the Ethereum community increasingly criticized the Ethereum Foundation (EF) for moving too slowly on network upgrades while failing to effectively promote Ethereum adoption. These tensions reached a breaking point in January when the Ethereum Foundation announced sweeping leadership changes and restructured its upgrade roadmap.
Simultaneously, Etherealize emerged from stealth. Etherealize launched with initial funding from the Ethereum Foundation and Ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin, specifically tasked with driving Ethereum adoption among Wall Street institutions. Last week, the organization raised $40 million to develop products and infrastructure tailored for financial institutions operating on Ethereum. This includes sophisticated tools enabling Wall Street firms to tokenize traditional assets on public blockchains. Veteran crypto venture capitalists Electric Capital and aforementioned Paradigm led the funding round.
This development signals progress as the crypto industry increasingly recognizes that institutional adoption requires specialized infrastructure. Getting financial institutions comfortable with public blockchains demands far more sophisticated tooling than serving retail users.
