coindesk.com
World Liberty Financial's $WLFI token fell about 12% in the past 24 hours after the Trump-linked crypto venture published a thread on X defending its lending position on Dolomite, the DeFi protocol whose co-founder advises $WLFI.
The thread came in response to CoinDesk's reporting that $WLFI had deposited its own governance token as collateral, borrowed stablecoins against it, and drained the USD1 lending pool to the point where other depositors could not withdraw.
$WLFI did not dispute the transactions but instead argued that the position was intentional and beneficial.
"We are one of the largest suppliers and borrowers on $WLFI Markets," the X account posted. "Yes, we supplied $WLFI as collateral and borrowed stablecoins. No, we are nowhere near liquidation, and frankly, even if markets moved dramatically against us, we'd simply supply more collateral."
The statement that $WLFI would add more of its own token as collateral to avoid liquidation further highlights, rather than resolves, the concern raised in CoinDesk's reporting.
Adding more $WLFI to back a position denominated in $WLFI on a protocol advised by $WLFI's own advisor is a form of circularity that investors may want to keep track of.
$WLFI framed its role as "anchor borrower," saying the borrowing generates yield for other users at a time when traditional markets offer little. The team disclosed $65.58 million in open-market buybacks of 435.3 million $WLFI tokens at an average price of $0.1507 over the past six months, and said a governance proposal to unlock tokens for early holders would be posted next week.
The token is now trading roughly 48% below the buyback average, meaning $WLFI's own treasury purchases are significantly underwater.
$WLFI has now hit its lowest level since its 2025 launch.
Meanwhile, three billion additional $WLFI tokens sit in an intermediary wallet after the treasury transferred them on April 2 and April 7. That stash is worth roughly $234 million as of current prices, down from $266 million a week ago.
The math works against $WLFI on every side if those tokens follow the same path into Dolomite. Lower prices mean less borrowing power per token, and depositing more tokens to borrow more stablecoins from a pool that is already nearly drained makes it harder for other depositors to withdraw. The collateral backing the position becomes even more concentrated in a token that just lost 12% in a day.