Theo Forbes, DT Marks DEFI LLC – the parent company of World Liberty Financial (WLFI), backed by the family of former President Donald Trump – has "quietly" reduced its stake in the WLFI project from 60% to about 40% in less than two weeks without any official announcement. It is estimated that this share sale has helped the Trump family earn approximately 190 million USD.
World Liberty Financial and the ownership structure of the Trump family
The #WorldLibertyFinancial project was officially announced by Donald Trump at the beginning of September 2024, initiated by his two sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. under the name The DeFiant Ones. This project promises a "financial revolution" acting as a crypto bank and plans to sell tokens. According to the profit allocation structure, 75% of the money after the first 30 million USD will belong to the Trump family.
By December 2024, DT Marks DEFI LLC holds 75% of the project's shares. However, after completing the first token sale worth about 300 million USD in early 2025, this ownership ratio dropped to 60%. Recently, this ratio has further decreased to 40%.
The timing of the divestment coincided with Circle's IPO and questions about transparency
The Trump family's $TRUMP divestment from World Liberty Financial "coincidentally" coincides with the explosive wave of a successful stablecoin IPO project, Circle. On June 5, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, Circle, successfully IPO'd on the New York Stock Exchange, with CRCL shares increasing nearly threefold on the first trading day, bringing the company's market capitalization to billions of USD. Just a week later, DT Marks DEFI LLC reduced its ownership from 60% to 40%.
Although there is no specific evidence showing that Trump's divestment is directly related to Circle's IPO, the sale of 20% of the shares has helped the Trump family earn up to 190 million USD. Of this, Trump himself could receive about 135 million USD, based on the 70% ownership ratio in DT Marks DEFI LLC. Some sources have also indicated that World Liberty Financial is the project generating the main income for former President Trump in 2024, with a profit of around 57 million USD.
Although no details of the transaction were disclosed, the quiet reduction in ownership can be understood for Trump, as releasing information could affect the market value of the remaining shares. However, the ambiguity regarding information and the overlapping ownership structure among Trump family members also raises many questions from investors and observers about the transparency of this project.