Trump-Linked USD1 Stablecoin Briefly Falls 2% After WLFI Co-Founders’ X Accounts Are Hacked

AI Financial, formerly Nasdaq-listed ALT5 Sigma, was originally focused on cryptocurrency payments and trading platforms. In August 2025, the company launched a $1.5 billion WLFI treasury strategy and acquired tokens issued by Trump family-backed World Liberty Financial. The transaction allowed the Trump family to cash out about $540 million and also sparked concerns over conflicts of interest and corporate governance.

The Wall Street Journal reported on July 7, 2026, that AI Financial was in talks with Tokyo blockchain company Perpetuals.com to sell its core payments subsidiary, ALT5 Sigma Canada, for as much as $15 million. Since the August 2025 transaction, the company’s shares have fallen more than 90%, while WLFI has plunged about 70% from its peak, underscoring the cost of its shift to a crypto-asset treasury strategy.

World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a crypto project backed by the Trump family, issues USD1, a U.S. dollar stablecoin designed to maintain a value of $1 per token. Custodian BitGo currently facilitates issuance and redemptions. An Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) national trust bank charter would allow WLFI to handle reserves, settlement and fund flows itself, making the review a focus of financial-regulatory and conflict-of-interest concerns.

As of July 20, 2026, market reports indicated that the OCC was set to approve WLFI's charter application. A former OCC official said regulators would struggle to find grounds for rejection under existing review standards. Approval would allow WLFI to dispense with intermediaries such as BitGo. Democratic senators and banking industry groups oppose the application, questioning whether the Trump family's ties to federal regulatory decisions create a conflict of interest. The OCC has yet to formally announce an approval date or the charter's conditions.

USD1 was launched in March 2025 by World Liberty Financial, the decentralized finance protocol backed by the Trump family, with digital-asset custodian BitGo safeguarding its dollar reserves. The stablecoin links the Trump political brand with stablecoin payments and traditional finance. It has also become a closely watched case at the intersection of politics and business because the family's interests overlap with its influence on U.S. policy.

In May 2025, Abu Dhabi investment firm MGX used $2 billion in USD1 to complete its investment in Binance, providing a key boost to the stablecoin's circulating supply. By July 2026, USD1's market capitalization had reached $4.6 billion, representing nearly tenfold growth in about a year. World Liberty Financial is also expanding access to regulated custody and mainstream financial channels through its partnerships with BitGo and Binance and its application for a banking license.

USD1 is a U.S. dollar stablecoin issued by Trump family-linked World Liberty Financial (WLFI), while HTX is led by Justin Sun. The dispute arose after WLFI froze related on-chain addresses following British government sanctions on HTX’s parent company. The episode highlights the governance risk that centralized stablecoin issuers can unilaterally restrict transfers and redemptions.

HTX announced it would delist USD1, accusing WLFI of freezing multiple on-chain addresses and user assets without prior notice. The exchange said it would convert USD1 holdings on its platform into USDT at a 1:1 ratio. Sanctions have escalated the conflict, but available information does not disclose the amount frozen, the effective delisting date or when the conversions will be completed.

World Liberty Financial, or WLFI, is a DeFi project backed by the Trump family whose USD1 stablecoin aims to maintain a peg of $1 per token. The close association between a political family’s brand and crypto finance has drawn scrutiny of account security, reserve transparency and market confidence.

The project recently faced a coordinated attack in which hackers compromised a founder’s account to spread panic while taking short positions, briefly pushing USD1 down to $0.9942. The project said funds were safe and its stabilization mechanism was functioning normally. As of July 20, 2026, USD1 had regained its peg, though the WLFI governance token remained under downward pressure.

World Liberty Financial is a crypto-finance company backed by U.S. President Donald Trump and his sons. Its USD1 stablecoin is fully backed 1:1 by U.S. dollar assets and uses minting and redemption mechanisms to maintain its $1 price. Stablecoins are an important dollar substitute for crypto trading and fund transfers, and even a brief depeg can test reserve transparency and market confidence.

World Liberty Financial said on X on February 23, 2026, that hackers targeted the accounts of several WLFI co-founders, short sellers built large positions and paid influencers spread panic. The company said WLFI fell about 7% at one point and was trading at $0.1128 when the report was published. USD1 dropped to about $0.994 before recovering to above $0.999.