Trump announces start of KYC process for World Liberty Financial 

If you are hoping to get on the WLFI whitelist and you live in the US, you must be an accredited investor

article-image

Former President Donald Trump lev radin/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

Enrollment for the Donald Trump-backed crypto project is underway, the former president announced Monday. 

Details about World Liberty Financial, the DeFi project Trump and his family have been teasing for months, have been slow to emerge. 

Know-your-customer (KYC) verification has now begun, Trump said in a post on X Monday. At least, for some prospective investors. 

Because of “outdated” regulations, the whitelist is only available to accredited investors in the US, the project confirmed in the World Liberty Telegram channel Monday. A second whitelist will be available for “non-US persons.” 

Read more: Donald Trump touts new family DeFi project

“We’re fighting for changes so all Americans can access World Liberty Financial and join the financial revolution,” the statement said. 

In a livestream lasting nearly two and a half hours earlier this month, World Liberty founders said that the native token WLFI would soon come to market. They also revealed how the asset will be divided

WLFI’s distribution will be 20% to the founding team/Trump family, 17% toward “user rewards,” and 63% for public purchase. A leaked draft of World Liberty’s plans previously stated that 70% of tokens would be reserved for project leaders. 

The team behind the project includes Trump’s sons, Donald Jr., Eric and Barron. Chase Herro and Zachary Folkman are also involved. 

Herro, who describes himself as “the dirtbag of the internet” founded the now-shuttered crypto trading firm Pacer Capital. Folkman and Herro also collaborated on building Dough Finance, the Aave-based DeFi platform that was exploited over the summer for $2 million. 

The current KYC process asks users to confirm their country of residence, link their ethereum wallet, submit a proof of identification and complete a “liveness check.” 

Accredited investors, per Securities and Exchange Commission guidelines, are those with a minimum net worth of $1 million and individual income of $200,000. Couples can qualify with a combined income of $300,000. 

The requirement for US-based investors to be accredited was not mentioned during the Sept. 16 World Liberty livestream.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 24 - 26, 2026

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research Report Templates (19).png

Research

Built on Solana, Loopscale is an orderbook-based lending protocol that pairs the efficiency of direct market matching with the flexibility and UX of modular protocols. We believe Loopscale can help scale NNAs in Solana DeFi and act as their foundational credit layer. Stablecoin deposits and select USD-pegged Loops on Loopscale are offering competitive yields, with an additional upside from farming the protocol and adjacent ecosystem projects (e.g., OnRe, Hylo) for potential future airdrops.

article-image

A recent mistrial illustrates how juries need more background information when it comes to judging complex systems like Ethereum

article-image

The Senate advanced a bipartisan funding package aimed at ending the shutdown, and bitcoin rose from its $100K bottom

article-image

The team is betting that a 20-minute hardware trust window beats a new alt-L1

article-image

To learn how to navigate the physical world, robots need visual data

article-image

Risks and illiquidity come to surface in the wake of a red October

article-image

Advice from Neal Stephenson, Kyle Broflovski, and Crypto Mom on building in crypto