Trump-Backed World Liberty Token Falls 50% From Peak—But Early Buyers Are Still in Profit

World Liberty Financial, the decentralized finance project backed by U.S. President Donald Trump, saw its governance token fall to a new low price on Thursday since trading opened earlier this week.

WLFI hit a low of nearly $0.16 on Thursday, according to crypto data provider CoinGecko. The token’s price peaked above $0.33 on Monday, not long after a significant portion of the token’s supply became tradable, putting the low about 50% down from the peak.

The price of WLFI has rebounded slightly to $0.175 as of this writing, still down 20% on the day.

“The World Liberty Financial team is focused on building and shipping great products, as they have since the very beginning,” a spokesperson told Decrypt.

The performance, in some ways, mirrors that of the president’s Solana-based meme coin. The token’s price peaked four days after its January debut, as notable hype gave way to a steep drawdown. At $8.30, TRUMP recently changed hands 88% down from its previous peak.

It appears that traders outside of the U.S. are most interested in the cryptocurrency that’s used to vote on changes in World Liberty’s design. Although U.S. crypto exchanges like Kraken and Coinbase quickly listed WLFI, they are not currently the token’s leading trading venues.

Investors in South Korea appear most interested in WLFI, with crypto exchanges Upbit and Bypit facilitating at least $190 million and $95 million in trading volume over the past day, respectively. For comparison, $70 million worth of WLFI changed hands on Coinbase over the same period, while the token generated just $5.5 million in trading volume on Kraken.

In a recent note, analysts at investment bank Compass Point warned that WLFI could harm retail traders if the token was listed on exchanges at a high valuation. If the token puts a bad taste in newcomers’ mouths, it may dissuade them from the asset class, they signaled.

“TRUMP remains 80% below all-time highs, while many retail traders have yet to fully recover from 1Q25’s meme coin bubble,” they wrote. “This could be another catalyst that decimates retail traders.”

Indeed, Coinbase’s total trading volume fell 40% sequentially in the second quarter to $237 billion, according to a shareholder letter. Although retail traders pulled back, the period was also marked by weaker activity among institutions.

Although World Liberty raised $500 million before its token became transferable, exchange listings represented the first time that many investors could get access to the token. Approved, accredited buyers could purchase the token for $0.015 during its presale.