President Donald Trump’s Decentralized Finance Project Launches USD1 Stablecoin
President Donald Trump’s decentralized finance project World Liberty Financial has launched its own stablecoin on both Ethereum and Binance’s BNB Chain, according to on-chain data.
The launch of the token, called USD1, marks the culmination of a plan that has been in the works for some months. Decrypt previously reported in October that the Trump family and its business partners were planning to issue a stablecoin—but, at the time, they were still working out issues related to the safety and legality of such a product.
With Trump back in the White House, and congressional Republicans racing to get a bill legalizing stablecoins over the finish line, it appears the World Liberty team feels the time is right for the president himself to enter the increasingly crowded—and lucrative—stablecoin market.
In a statement issued Tuesday, World Liberty confirmed the launch of the USD1 stablecoin, and elaborated that the token will be collateralized with short-term U.S. Treasuries, U.S. dollar deposits, and other cash equivalents. Those reserves will be overseen by American digital asset custodian BitGo, which launched its own stablecoin in September.
“USD1 provides what algorithmic and anonymous crypto projects cannot—access to the power of DeFi underpinned by the credibility and safeguards of the most respected names in traditional finance,” Zach Witkoff, one of World Liberty’s co-founders, said.
Stablecoins, which are generally pegged to the price of the U.S. dollar, serve as key on- and off-ramps between crypto and traditional financial markets. They allow users to park on-chain funds in currencies that remain fixed in value even when crypto markets fluctuate. Stablecoins also function as dollar equivalents in markets where dollars are restricted.
They can also offer immense profits to issuers. Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin issuer, posted a $13 billion profit last year, mainly from reinvesting customer deposits in yield-bearing U.S. Treasuries. Perhaps for that reason, the field appears poised to become inundated with competitors from all corners of crypto and the traditional finance world.
The legality of stablecoins in the U.S., however, also remains an open question. The SEC, under former President Joe Biden, sued companies like Binance for issuing stablecoins, claiming the tokens violate existing securities laws. If passed, though, the stablecoin bill currently making its way through Congress would put such legal uncertainty to bed.
World Liberty’s USD1 stablecoin is currently compatible for trading on Ethereum, one of the largest blockchain networks for decentralized finance, and on BNB, a blockchain developed by Binance. Decentralized finance, or DeFi, refers to a collection of crypto-based applications that allow for the trading, borrowing, and lending of digital assets without the need for third-party intermediaries, such as banks.
On Monday, Binance’s founder and former CEO, Changpeng Zhao celebrated the news, posting a welcome message to World Liberty on X.
Earlier this month, World Liberty announced it had completed two rounds of sales of its governance token, WLFI, netting some $550 million in the process. The project’s founders shortly thereafter teased the impending launch of “a wave of disruptive technology that will redefine the boundaries of what’s possible with digital assets.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated after publication to include a statement from World Liberty Financial.