Trump’s Crypto Project Buys ETH Dip Amid Market Downturn

According to Arkham data, World Liberty Financial (WLFI) bought 722.213 ETH for 2.5 million USDC via Cow Protocol, expanding its Ethereum holdings to a total of 15.595k ETH, now valued at approximately $53.61 million. 

The timing for the purchase couldn’t be less perfect, as the crypto market plunged after a hawkish Fed meeting on Wednesday where officials voted for the third and final interest rate cut of 2024 by 25 basis points. During the press conference, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell also addressed the prospect of the central bank building a strategic reserve of Bitcoin, one of Trump’s boldest campaign promises to the crypto industry. 

The official said that the central bank is legally not allowed to hold Bitcoin and is not looking for a law change. For context, in July 2024, Republican Senator Cyntia Lummis introduced a Bitcoin Act to create such a reserve, proposing to acquire 5 percent of the BTC supply funded by Fed bank deposits and gold holdings.

Powell’s comments poured cold water on expectations that Bitcoin’s price will continue its upward trend fueled by optimism over Trump’s embrace of the crypto industry. Following the Fed meeting, Bitcoin saw a sharp decline, falling by 6% within hours to $98,900 after trading above $100,000 for the past week, during which it reached a new ATH of $108,135. Ethereum and other major altcoins mirrored the downturn, with ETH losing 11% since Wednesday and currently trading at $3,400. 

Despite backing from the president-elect, World Liberty Financial got off to a rocky start. The October public sale of WLFI tokens only managed to sell a little more than 4% of the coins. Because of lukewarm demand, the project had to slash its presale goal from $300 million to just $30 million. 

Besides stagnating sales, WLFI faces other behind-the-scenes issues, such as a lack of a well-defined roadmap, barriers to entry antithetical to the tenets of DeFi, and possible conflict of interest. The project, which was launched with the commitment to democratize and depoliticize finance through decentralized lending, directs the sale of WLFI tokens only to accredited investors who meet a certain wealth threshold, a criterion that excludes a broader audience from participating. 

WLFI scoops up alts and lends a helping hand to Justin Sun

Besides Ethereum, World Liberty Financial has been actively shopping for other altcoins, including ETH, WBTC, AAVE, LINK, ENA, and ONDO. Meanwhile, the native token of CoW Protocol (COW) used by WLFI jumped nearly 35% over the last 24 hours due to investors’ speculative interest in the platform. 

On Thursday, World Liberty Financial swapped $10.4 million of cbBTC for wBTC, taking the side of a controversial crypto mogul Justin Sun in his brawl with Coinbase over wBTC delisting. The popular Bitcoin wrapper issued by BiT Global was delisted by Coinbase without much elaboration except its alleged incompatibility with the exchange’s listing standards. In response, BiT Global filed a lawsuit, claiming that the move was meant to give Coinbase’s own wrapper, cbBTC, an unfair advantage. Coinbase countered with the claim that Justin Sun’s control over BiT Global presented unacceptable risks for customers. 

While Justin Sun’s connection to BitGo may be less clear, his ties to World Liberty Financial are much more obvious. The $30 million investment in WLFI announced by Sun in November made him at the time the project’s largest investor. The following day, Sun was invited to join the advisory board, cementing the Sun-Trump alliance.   

Ethereum ETFs with record inflows in December

Despite the market’s neurotic reaction to the Fed’s recent rate cut, Ethereum ETFs performed exceptionally well in December, The Block’s data suggests. This month has brought $1.66 billion in new investments to such products, which is 74% of the $2.24 billion total inflows since inception.

The market structure of Ethereum ETFs remains highly concentrated, with BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) staying ahead of the competition by a wide margin. On December 5, ETHA recorded a single-day high of $292 million in inflows, followed by Fidelity’s FETH as the second most popular choice. Other Ethereum ETF providers have garnered only modest investor interest compared to the broader distribution seen in Bitcoin ETFs.