World Liberty Financial (WLFI) News Today, 17 November 2025: Token Holds Key Support as CZ Pardon Uproar and New Money‑Laundering Probes Put Trump’s Crypto Venture Under Pressure

Key takeaways

WLFI trades around $0.147–$0.148 today with a market cap near $3.6 billion, keeping a fragile bullish structure above the crucial $0.14 support zone. ^[1]
Multiple fresh price analyses (CoinDCX, Coinpedia, CoinCodex, MEXC) see a volatile but slightly upward bias into late November, with upside scenarios toward $0.17–$0.18 if resistance near $0.153–$0.16 breaks — but some models still warn of potential drops toward $0.11–$0.12. ^[2]
New political and legal scrutiny continues today around Changpeng “CZ” Zhao’s presidential pardon and alleged ties between Binance and World Liberty Financial, with CZ’s lawyer again calling claims he “bought” his pardon with crypto “impossible” and dismissing links to WLFI. ^[3]
A major ICIJ investigation published today on money‑laundering through exchanges highlights Justin Sun’s $75 million stake in WLFI, tying Trump’s crypto project indirectly into broader concerns about lax controls at major platforms. ^[4]
New commentary and analysis pieces — from Analytics Insight, local Australian press, and others — underscore WLFI’s status as a “politically connected” top gainer whose economics heavily favor the Trump family, who reportedly receive 75% of token‑sale revenue. ^[5]

Note: This article is for informational purposes only and is not financial or investment advice. Crypto assets are highly volatile and risky.

1. What is World Liberty Financial?

World Liberty Financial (WLFI) is a decentralized‑finance (DeFi) project closely associated with U.S. President Donald Trump and his family. It combines:

a governance token: WLFI, and
a USD‑pegged stablecoin: USD1.

According to the project’s own materials and major data aggregators, WLFI aims to “redefine DeFi” around mass adoption of U.S‑pegged stablecoins, explicitly positioning itself as a way to keep the U.S. dollar dominant in a digital, crypto‑heavy world, rather than ceding ground to central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). ^[6]

Key structural points repeatedly cited in reporting:

World Liberty Financial launched in September 2024, with its WLFI token going fully tradable on exchanges from 1 September 2025. ^[7]
A Trump Organization entity receives 75% of revenue from WLFI token sales, according to the project’s own disclosures and investigative reporting. ^[8]
The governance token gives limited voting rights and no direct claim on profits, which several academics and market observers have described as unusual compared with other DeFi governance tokens. ^[9]
USD1 — the stablecoin branded by World Liberty — is actually issued by a partner firm, with World Liberty collecting a share of profits from that stablecoin business. ^[10]

This structure means most of the economic upside flows to the Trump family and close partners, while WLFI holders mainly get governance exposure and speculative price action.

2. WLFI price today: bulls defend $0.14 as traders eye a breakout

On 17 November 2025, multiple market‑data platforms show WLFI trading in a tight band just below $0.15:

CoinMarketCap: about $0.1480, market cap roughly $3.63 billion, circulating supply ~24.6 billion WLFI (about 25% of the 100 billion max supply). ^[11]
CoinGecko: $0.1471, with a 24‑hour range of $0.1386–$0.1503. ^[12]
CoinCodex / ET Markets: broadly similar pricing, with ET quoting ₹13.05 per WLFI (~$0.155 at ₹83/USD) and a 0.61% daily gain as of mid‑afternoon in India. ^[13]

Despite still being down sharply from its September all‑time high near $0.46, WLFI has recovered strongly from its October low around $0.085–$0.09, leaving the token up more than 60% from that trough. ^[14]

Technical picture: $0.14 support vs. $0.153–$0.16 resistance

Two fresh technical analyses published today outline the battleground:

Coinpedia highlights $0.14 as a “point of control” with heavy volume, noting that WLFI is holding around $0.1465 after an 11.7% weekly climb. The piece argues that repeated bounces from $0.14 and a positive MACD histogram point to a possible breakout toward $0.18, if price can close above $0.153. ^[15]
CoinDCX similarly describes $0.136–$0.138 as short‑term support and $0.158–$0.160 as the key resistance band. Their base case for November 2025 sees WLFI consolidating in the $0.150–$0.160 region with potential spikes to $0.170–$0.180 if bulls force a daily close above the 50‑day EMA. ^[16]

Other models are more cautious:

MEXC’s prediction tool pegs a “fair‑value” style projection of $0.1464 for today and essentially flat action into tomorrow. ^[17]
CoinCodex’s short‑term target table actually forecasts a drift down toward ~$0.112 by 22 November, implying that a failure of the $0.14 support could still trigger a sharp pullback. ^[18]

In short, the market is split: on‑chain and order‑book data support a tentative bullish reversal, but the support zone WLFI reclaimed in October hasn’t been truly stress‑tested under heavy selling since the latest round of political headlines.

3. CZ’s pardon, Binance, and WLFI: Rumors, denials and “impossible” deals

World Liberty Financial news today isn’t just about the chart — it’s deeply entangled with Washington and the global regulatory backdrop.

A widely read Economic Times piece this morning revisits rumors that Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao might somehow have “bought” his October presidential pardon with cryptocurrency. CZ’s attorney Teresa Goody Guillén strongly rejects that narrative, calling it “impossible” and saying the story “doesn’t survive even basic scrutiny.” ^[19]

The same article explicitly tackles the question:

“What is World Liberty Financial and Changpeng Zhao’s links to it?”

Key points from that reporting:

Early corporate filings allegedly showed Trump family members owning around 75% of World Liberty Financial before dilution, later reduced to about 38%.
Based on secondary sources, the Trump family is currently said to hold 22.5 billion WLFI tokens and receive 75% of WLFI token‑sale revenue. ^[20]
These links, combined with Binance’s prominence in WLFI trading, have fed speculation that crypto flows tied to WLFI could have influenced the White House decision to pardon CZ.

New pieces today on Coingape and CryptoNews echo Guillén’s line, stressing that both CZ and his legal team deny any corrupt bargain. One summary notes that Guillén and CZ view the prosecution as a legacy of the previous administration’s “war on crypto,” and argue that data linking Binance and WLFI represents normal blockchain activity rather than evidence of quid‑pro‑quo. ^[21]

So far there is no public evidence that WLFI transactions funded or purchased Zhao’s pardon. The narrative remains:

Investigative journalists and critics pointing to overlapping financial interests and timing;
CZ, Trump allies and their lawyers insisting the connections are coincidental or misinterpreted.

4. ICIJ’s “Coin Laundry” investigation: WLFI pulled into the money‑laundering conversation

Adding more fuel, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) today published a major investigation, “Crypto giants moved billions linked to money launderers, drug traffickers and North Korean hackers,” as part of its “Coin Laundry” project. ^[22]

The story focuses on how firms like Binance and OKX allegedly continued handling hundreds of millions of dollars in tainted crypto flows even while under U.S. scrutiny and, in Binance’s case, after a criminal plea deal. ^[23]

Where WLFI enters the picture:

ICIJ cites blockchain‑data expert John Griffin, who has studied flows through Binance, OKX and HTX, noting that HTX is linked to Justin Sun. ^[24]
The piece reports that by mid‑2025, Sun owned about $75 million worth of WLFI tokens, making him one of the largest investors in World Liberty Financial. ^[25]

This doesn’t accuse WLFI itself of money‑laundering, but it ties the project’s cap table into a broader ecosystem where:

major exchanges are under fire for inadequate anti‑money‑laundering controls, and
some of WLFI’s biggest backers are simultaneously facing regulatory or reputational heat elsewhere in crypto.

For investors and regulators, the takeaway is that WLFI isn’t operating in a vacuum; it sits at the intersection of powerful exchanges, politically connected investors and ongoing international enforcement debates.

5. WLFI as a “politically connected top gainer”

A new Analytics Insight article today lists World Liberty Financial among the “Top Crypto Gainers for 2025,” in a line‑up that also includes Zero Knowledge Proof (ZKP), Ethereum and Stellar. ^[26]

Their portrait of WLFI is blunt:

WLFI is described as a “politically connected token” launched in 2024 and tied directly to Donald Trump and his family.
The piece notes that WLFI’s presale ended in March 2025, with a September 2025 exchange launch, and that the token saw an uptrend around 9 November as the U.S. Senate moved to end the government shutdown — a move some traders associated with improved sentiment toward Trump‑aligned assets. ^[27]
Analytics Insight estimates WLFI is trading in roughly a $0.14–$0.21 range, with a market cap around $3.76 billion and 25 billion tokens in circulation — figures broadly consistent with other data aggregators. ^[28]

The framing reinforces the idea that WLFI’s price is driven as much by politics as by product:

upside scenarios lean on the Trump brand and narrative,
downside risk includes regulatory shocks, ethics scandals and shifts in U.S. policy as much as pure technicals.

6. Opinion pieces and public perception: “Simply coining it”

Beyond specialist crypto and investigative outlets, WLFI is showing up in mainstream and local commentary.

An opinion column in Myall Coast News of the Area (Australia), published today under the headline “Write Direction: Simply coining it,” sketches a layperson’s view of Trump’s crypto fortunes: ^[29]

It notes reports that Trump’s wealth has increased by billions during his second term, with cryptocurrency at the core of that jump, including his own $TRUMP meme coin.
The columnist recalls that Trump and his sons launched World Liberty Financial with real‑estate figure Steve Witkoff, describing WLFI as a platform where 75% of the profits from each token sale go to the Trump family. ^[30]

While not an investigative piece, this kind of local commentary matters for public perception:

WLFI is increasingly viewed not just as a DeFi protocol, but as a direct monetization engine for the Trump brand.
Critics argue that even if the structure is legal, the blend of presidential power, foreign investors and a family‑controlled crypto platform raises unprecedented conflict‑of‑interest concerns. ^[31]

Earlier in the autumn, a detailed Reuters special report calculated that in the first half of 2025, the Trump family took in about $802 million from crypto ventures, including roughly $463 million from WLFI token sales alone, dwarfing income from golf courses and traditional real‑estate licensing. ^[32]

Again, the Trump Organization and WLFI’s lawyers dispute parts of that analysis, calling some valuation and income estimates “inaccurate and misleading,” but have so far provided limited alternative detail. ^[33]

7. USD1 stablecoin: quietly doing its job — for now

While most headlines focus on WLFI’s governance token and politics, the USD1 stablecoin tied to World Liberty Financial continues to trade close to its $1 peg.

A Binance price‑prediction dashboard today shows USD1 around $0.999–$1.000, with projections that it could drift slightly higher to about $1.003 over the next 30 days under benign assumptions. ^[34]

Reuters previously reported that:

USD1 is actually issued by a separate company, which shares profits with World Liberty Financial.
World Liberty has pivoted a considerable portion of its business narrative toward USD1, even as its flagship peer‑to‑peer lending platform remains largely aspirational. ^[35]

For regulators, USD1’s stability will be critical: any de‑pegging or liquidity crunch could quickly compound concerns about governance, concentration of deposits (such as the widely discussed $2 billion Emirati deal explored by CBS’s 60 Minutes) and the project’s systemic impact. ^[36]

8. What to watch next for WLFI

Putting all of today’s news together, World Liberty Financial sits at a crossroads:

Market structure & price action
- Holding above $0.14 keeps the bullish recovery scenario alive; a clean break over $0.153–$0.160 could open the door to $0.17–$0.18 in the near term. ^[37]
- Failure of support — especially if triggered by a negative political headline — would validate more bearish models targeting $0.11–$0.12. ^[38]
Regulatory & political risk
- Any follow‑up from U.S. lawmakers, enforcement agencies or ethics watchdogs in response to the ICIJ findings, Reuters calculations or the CBS pardon segment could materially change WLFI’s risk profile. ^[39]
- Continued public denials from CZ, Trump, World Liberty and Binance may calm markets, but they don’t erase questions around concentrated foreign ownership and presidential conflicts of interest.
Fundamentals & delivery
- To move beyond “politically‑charged meme” status, WLFI still has to deliver on its original DeFi roadmap — notably the peer‑to‑peer financing platform and deeper real‑world utility for USD1. ^[40]
- Expanded transparency around governance, treasury management and revenue‑sharing mechanics could also help address concerns raised by academics and ethics experts.

9. For readers and potential investors

If you’re tracking WLFI — whether as a trader, journalist, or simply a curious observer — today’s picture is a mix of:

Muted price strength after a severe drawdown,
Heavy political and reputational baggage, and
A still‑evolving regulatory environment around Trump‑linked digital assets.

Given how tightly WLFI is interwoven with one family, one presidency and a small circle of large foreign backers, its risk profile is fundamentally different from typical DeFi projects.

Always do your own research and consider independent legal and financial advice before putting money into any cryptocurrency, especially one so directly tied to real‑world political power.

Crypto: The World’s Greatest Scam.