- Trading intensified before WLFI’s 1 September unlock, lifting both volume and open interest.
- Futures slipped from US$0.40 to US$0.32, with Binance leading activity.
- 20% of presale tokens unlock 1 September, raising questions over Trump’s stake.
Trading activity in World Liberty Financial (WLFI) derivatives has intensified ahead of the project’s first token unlock. Volumes jumped to US$3.13 billion (AU$4.79 billion) in 24 hours, marking a more than 400% rise on Sunday afternoon. Open interest in WLFI contracts has also grown strongly, reaching US$760 million (AU$1.16 billion), a rise of over 50%.
WLFI futures, which began trading last week, opened at about US$0.40 (AU$0.61) but slipped closer to US$0.32 (AU$0.49) by Sunday. Most of the activity has taken place on Binance, with strong participation also seen on OKX and Bitget. Binance has also attracted the largest share of open positions, well ahead of other exchanges.
Related: Trump-Linked Crypto Firm Eyes US$1.5B Public Offering for Token Holdings
Presale Tokens Enter the Market
The token will debut on 1 September 2025, when 20% of early investor holdings purchased in presale rounds priced at US$0.015 (AU$0.02) and US$0.05 (AU$0.08) will be unlocked. These unlocked tokens amount to roughly 5% of the total supply of 100 billion WLFI, with distribution managed through a “Lockbox” process. With the token priced near US$0.32 (AU$0.49), investors from the earliest round could see returns approaching 20 times their entry.
At current pre-market levels, WLFI’s fully diluted valuation (FDV) would surpass US$31 billion (AU$47.40 billion), potentially placing it alongside cryptocurrencies like Dogecoin, Tron and Sui.
The WLFI project has already raised over US$550 million (AU$841 million) from 85,000 participants and will shift from a governance-only token to a tradable asset on Ethereum. Market watchers expect near-term volatility but note that controlled token release may support long-term stability.
The Trump family’s holding company controls 22.5 billion WLFI tokens, which would be worth more than US$7 billion (AU$10.70 billion) if prices hold, though these allocations remain locked. Political debate has emerged over this involvement, with critics flagging potential conflicts of interest.
Related: Eric Trump: Family Turned Pro-Crypto After Being ‘Debanked’ Post-Capitol Riot
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