Recently, the WLFI token supported by the Trump family experienced a cliff-like drop, plummeting 24% within 24 hours, resulting in a market value loss of hundreds of millions of dollars. This crash not only shocked the entire cryptocurrency market but also brought the controversy surrounding political figures' involvement in digital assets to the forefront.
The WLFI token, as a decentralized finance project prominently launched by the Trump family in 2024, once attracted significant market attention, even receiving public support from several well-known investors, including Sun Yuchen. However, with Trump's return to the White House, the political sensitivity of this project has rapidly escalated, and market concerns have grown day by day.
Regulatory agencies responded quickly, focusing mainly on the potential for 'conflicts of interest.' As the President of the United States, the policies and statements promoted by Trump undoubtedly have the power to influence the cryptocurrency market, while he also has significant financial ties to WLFI. Currently, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has initiated a preliminary investigation into the project to assess whether it is suspected of using political influence for market manipulation.
Behind the panic selling by investors, there are mainly three driving factors: first, a sharp increase in regulatory uncertainty; second, the political unpredictability brought by Trump's term; and third, deep skepticism about whether this type of Meme token, which heavily relies on individual credibility, can continue to exist.
From a technical perspective, the WLFI project itself did not exhibit any obvious vulnerabilities; its smart contracts have been audited by multiple auditing firms, and its mechanism design has its innovative aspects. However, when political risk dominates, technical advantages become irrelevant — under the heavy pressure of policy and public opinion, the reliability of the code itself becomes the least critical variable.
International regulatory bodies are also paying close attention to this matter. EU financial regulators stated that they may use this incident as a case study to reassess and strengthen the regulatory framework regarding political figures' participation in cryptocurrency projects. This global coordinated response not only intensified the selling pressure on WLFI but also sounded the alarm for similar projects in the future.
This incident is likely to become a watershed moment for the industry, pushing the United States and even the world to introduce stricter compliance guidelines that prohibit or restrict political figures from endorsing and participating in high-risk cryptocurrency projects. The predicament of the Trump family and WLFI once again reveals the enormous risks faced when cryptocurrency intersects with real-world politics.