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Trump-backed crypto venture World Liberty Financial (WLFI) played a prominent role during the UFC Freedom 250 event held on the White House South Lawn. The company partnered with UFC as a presenting sponsor and distributed prize payments using its USD1 stablecoin.
The event marked another high-profile appearance for the project as it continues expanding USD1 adoption. At the same time, the sponsorship is likely to renew debate over the relationship between the Trump family, crypto businesses, and federal policymaking.
WLFI Uses UFC Event to Promote USD1 Stablecoin
WLFI played a starring role at the event on June 14 by offering $250,000 in prize money using its USD1 stablecoin. It also paid the bonus, which was won by two UFC fighters, Justin Gaethje and Ciryl Gane, immediately.
This appeared to be the central idea behind the sponsorship, with WLFI CEO Zach Witkoff stating that USD1 makes money more accessible and faster. The stablecoin issuer and custodian BitGo added that winners were paid immediately when the final bell rang.
World Liberty’s efforts to increase adoption of its USD1 stablecoin are unsurprising, given that the stablecoin has seen a dip in supply over the past few months. Since hitting a peak of $5.34 billion in circulating supply back in March, USD1 has fallen to $4.43 billion.
In a bid to boost usage, it has been running an airdrop campaign on Binance and recently extended it to June 26. The project also allocated 178 million WLFI tokens towards the stablecoin campaign, which requires users to hold USD1
All these efforts have translated into a slight rise in market cap over the last two months. While this is enough to secure a spot among the top 5 stablecoins, it still lags behind Tether USDT and Circle USDC in adoption and volume.
USD1 and World Liberty have also been at the center of controversy in recent weeks, with HTX delisting the stablecoin and forcefully converting user balances to USDT.
Conflict of Interest Concerns Thickens Over Trump’s Crypto Ties
Meanwhile, World Liberty Financial’s sponsorship of an event at the White House only increases scrutiny of Trump’s crypto ties. Several critics have expressed concerns that Trump is personally profiting from pro-crypto policies.
According to a Reuters investigation, the Trump family has made at least $2.3 billion in crypto since the start of Trump’s second term. The WLFI accounts for the majority of these profits.
While the White House insists there is no conflict of interest, given that President Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children, concerns are affecting other crypto efforts.
One of the major stumbling blocks for the CLARITY Act has been negotiations over ethics provisions in the proposed legislation. Democrats want a provision banning public officials from profiting from crypto, but the White House and Republicans have pushed back.
