Trump’s crypto website crashed after its token went on sale
Former President Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency project, World Liberty Financial, launched its token sale on Tuesday — and its website crashed shortly afterward.
The whitelist for the much-hyped but still largely unexplained decentralized finance project opened on September 30th for accredited investors and non-US persons. World Liberty Financial co-founder Zach Folkman claimed on Monday that “well over 100,000 people” had signed up to buy its token WLFI, according to CNBC. As of publication time, the site appeared to be back online.
However, according to blockchain data tracked by Etherscan, just 5,317 unique wallet addresses held the token as of Tuesday afternoon, and World Liberty Financial said it sold more than 532 million tokens of the 20 billion made available for public sale.
Sandy Peng, a WLFI advisor, told CoinDesk that the outages resulted from excessive traffic. “The team wasn’t expecting this level of interest,” Peng said, adding that the website received 72 million unique visits in the first hour after the token launched.
CoinDesk reports that the WLFI token, which will be non-transferrable for now, will be used to govern the World Liberty Financial platform. Holders will be able to have a say in protocol upgrades, technical changes, promotional partnerships, and oversight of security risks. The platform itself will let users borrow and lend cryptocurrency.
Despite Trump and his associates’ promotion of World Liberty Financial as a tool to help unbanked and de-banked people, only those who meet the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) accredited investor requirements can purchase WLFI. To qualify as an accredited investor, a person must have an income of at least $200,000 (or $300,000 with a spouse) and/or a net worth of at least $1 million, excluding their primary residence.
World Liberty Financial released a so-called “gold paper” about the token on Tuesday, which lists Trump as the “chief crypto associate.” His three sons — Eric, Donald Trump Jr., and Barron — are listed as Web3 Ambassadors.
According to the paper, the World Liberty Financial protocol “plans to provide users with information and access to third-party DeFi applications, including third party digital wallet providers for acquiring, holding, and transferring stable coins, and non-security digital assets.” Notably, the paper says that the tokens “ARE NOT AVAILABLE FOR U.S. PERSONS” and “HAVE NOT BEEN REGISTERED WITH ANY U.S. OR OTHER AUTHORITY.”
Former President Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency project, World Liberty Financial, launched its token sale on Tuesday — and its website crashed shortly afterward. The whitelist for the much-hyped but still largely unexplained decentralized finance project opened on September 30th for accredited investors and non-US persons. World Liberty Financial co-founder Zach Folkman…
Recent Posts
- How much data does your favorite messaging app collect? New study shows 90% of messaging apps now include AI that puts privacy at risk
- More than a decade later, the team behind N++ is back with a multiplayer sequel
- If Vampire Survivors and Spelunky had a baby, it’d be Messhof’s Blood Dungeon
- Grand Theft Auto VI is warping the video game release calendar
- 9 dog-care gadgets that are so clever they deserve a treat — including an ingenious on-the-go water solution and a ‘canine FitBit’
Archives
- June 2026
- May 2026
- April 2026
- March 2026
- February 2026
- January 2026
- December 2025
- November 2025
- October 2025
- September 2025
- August 2025
- July 2025
- June 2025
- May 2025
- April 2025
- March 2025
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023