In 2024, the Trump family was getting its new crypto firm, World Liberty Financial (WLFI), off the ground and looking for advisors. WLFI cofounder and advisor to the current President, Steve Witkoff, reached out to a veteran crypto venture capitalist, Nic Carter, but Carter had reservations.
According to a New York magazine feature on World Liberty, Carter declined to join upon realizing that Witkoff appeared to know very little about crypto. “He didn’t know what crypto or DeFi was. He didn’t know what the pitch was,” Carter told New York. “I’m like, ‘Oh, okay, so there’s no product. They’re just doing a token.’”
The final straw, though, came when Witkoff brought up memecoins, a popular type of cryptocurrency inspired by viral memes or internet culture.
“The biggest giveaway was when Witkoff explained that Trump had become interested in the crypto project because ‘Barron was getting active with meme coins’ — but pronounced it “me-me” coins,” Carter explained.
WLFI’s origins
The Witkoff anecdote came as part of a broader investigation by New York into ties between the Trump family’s WLFI venture and the controversial crypto billionaire Justin Sun. The venture kicked off back in August 2024 when Trump and his two oldest sons teased a new crypto project on social media called World Liberty Financial. A month later, the company released a “Gold Paper”—a play on the industry term “white paper,” which outlines the fundamentals of a crypto project.
The document described WLFI as a decentralized finance venture aimed at “democratizing access to financial opportunities.” Listed as cofounders were Trump, his three sons, and Steve Witkoff, now the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East. Also named were Witkoff’s two sons, internet marketer Chase Herro, and former pickup artist Zak Folkman. In January 2025, Trump, who branded himself a “crypto president” on the campaign trail, assumed the presidency and stepped down from his role at WLFI, as did Witkoff.
The project has proven highly lucrative for the Trump family. Trump’s latest financial disclosure, released in July, showed that $1.4 billion of his roughly $2.2 billion net worth came from crypto-related investments. His business entities generated $600 million from WLFI alone.
As New York recounts, Sun was instrumental in helping WLFI get off the ground. A founder of the TRON blockchain and a former Trump supporter, Sun transferred $45 million to World Liberty Financial in 2024 in exchange for WLFI tokens and later joined as an advisor. According to the magazine, Sun’s involvement as a high-profile billionaire helped legitimize the project and drew in additional investors, turning it into a fundraising success—until things turned sour.
Sun says he became dismayed upon discovering that WLFI appeared designed to enrich the Trump family and a handful of insiders, but not those holding the company’s tokens. Sun ultimately sued WLFI in April, accusing the company of fraud, breach of contract, and freezing his WLFI tokens. WLFI has shot back by filing a defamation claim against Sun.
Meanwhile, the price of the WLFI token has fallen more than 80% since it began trading on the open market last September, leaving holders and investors with steep losses.