This is a segment from the Empire newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe . Anthony Bourdain would famously go to great lengths to avoid and outwit a guy inside him who wanted to rot in bed all day. I do something similar with my inner contrarian. But I can’t help it with this one: The crypto portfolio of Trump-linked DeFi platform World Liberty Financial could very well turn out to be the crypto strategic reserve that many anticipate will soon be announced. And it’s already getting messy. To the conspiracy theorist that sometimes types for me — like the rat in Ratatouille — there are obvious signs. Donald Trump Jr. perhaps let it slip on X. To commemorate Trump Sr.’s second inauguration on Monday, becoming the 45th and 47th US president, World Liberty Financial made a series of what it called “strategic purchases” of various coins. To commemorate the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the 47th President of the United States, $WLFI is proud to announce the following strategic purchases today: $47,000,000 ETH $47,000,000 wBTC $4,700,000 Aave $4,700,000 LINK $4,700,000 TRX $4,700,000 ENA Excited for the… — Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) January 21, 2025 Deep thinkers would quickly spot that one of those coins is not like the others. World Liberty Financial runs on Ethereum — so ETH makes sense. Trump has also done well courting the Bitcoiners, so wBTC gets a green check as a DeFi-compatible nod to the real thing. So does AAVE, LINK and ENA. Platforms tied to all three coins are expected to integrate with World Liberty Financial whenever it goes live. But why TRX? (The conspiracist in me is now screaming about the $30 million plowed into the World Liberty Financial token sale by Tron founder Justin Sun last month. And the curious switch from cbBTC to WBTC amid that drama. Ignore him.) The first US 🇺🇸 national crypto exchange should be named “Trump Reserve Xchange,” abbreviated as T.R.X. — H.E. Justin Sun 🍌 (@justinsuntron) November 13, 2024 He somehow snuck this one through For what it’s worth, if World Liberty Financial really is the US crypto strategic reserve in disguise, it’s doing pretty well so far. It has spent $220.1 million on crypto since the end of November. Now it’s worth $234 million, putting it over 6% ahead, with gains made on BTC, ETH and AAVE against losses in TRX, ENA and ONDO. Maybe let it cook. Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter . Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter . Get alpha directly in your inbox with the 0xResearch newsletter — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more. The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.
