Justin Sun Joins Trump's DeFi Project WLFI as Adviser

World Liberty Financial (WLFI), President-elect Donald Trump's cryptocurrency platform, has secured a significant partnership by appointing TRON founder and crypto billionaire Justin Sun as an advisor.

This announcement, made Tuesday, follows Sun's $30 million purchase of WLFI tokens just a day prior.

Sun's investment marks a turning point for the platform, which had faced slow token sales before his involvement.

Less Than 21,000 Unique Wallet Holds WLFI Tokens

Branded under Trump's name and structured as an LLC, WLFI positions itself as a crypto bank, offering services like borrowing, lending, and cryptocurrency investments.

The platform's WLFI token, launched last month, quickly garnered investor attention, contributing to its $300 million fundraising goal.

Sun's contribution has propelled token sales beyond $51.2 million.

Under the deal's terms, Trump's LLC secures billions of WLFI tokens and claims 75% of all revenue exceeding $30 million—a structure some analysts find unconventional, as it enables significant cash flow without upfront costs to Trump.

Despite co-founder Zachary Folkman's claim that over 100,000 people are on WLFI's whitelist, blockchain data from Etherscan reveals only 20,400 unique wallet addresses holding the token.

Folkman noted:

“We are confident about future success and building out something that helps to make finance freer and fairer. Just last week, Sun went viral for spending $6.2 million at a Sotheby’s auction for a banana duct-taped to a wall.”

While this discrepancy raises questions, Folkman remains optimistic, citing recent high-profile investments, including Sun's, as evidence of the platform's growing momentum.

Sun Spends Big Despite Regulatory Pressure

Sun has not been without controversy, facing legal challenges in the US, including a 2023 lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The SEC accused Sun and entities associated with him—the TRON Foundation, BitTorrent Foundation, and Rainberry Inc.—of selling unregistered securities during TRX's 2017 Initial Coin Offering (ICO).

Additionally, the lawsuit alleged that Sun engaged in manipulative trading practices to falsely inflate TRX's liquidity.

In March 2024, Sun and his companies filed a motion in a New York federal court, asserting that the SEC lacks jurisdiction over foreign digital asset offerings.

“The SEC is not a worldwide regulator," the filing stated, challenging the agency's reach.

While the case remains unresolved, it appears to have done little to curb Sun’s bold ambitions—or his spending power.

A University of Pennsylvania alumnus like Trump, Sun has become infamous for headline-grabbing investments, including paying $6.2 million for a banana duct-taped to a wall at a Sotheby's auction.

A curious move—has he gone bananas or is it a calculated statement on the value of art?

Either way, with Sun officially coming under Trump's umbrella of hires, we can only wait to see what his role entails and what will happen moving forward in this fast-paced world of digital assets.

Meanwhile, World Liberty Financial has introduced a proposal to deploy an Aave v3 instance on the Ethereum Mainnet.

This initiative aims to expand access to decentralised finance (DeFi) by enabling seamless over-collateralised borrowing and lending for a broader user base.

If implemented, it could mark a significant step toward enhancing DeFi accessibility and functionality.