WLFI, the token linked to Trump-affiliated World Liberty Financial, rose about 10% after a $3.5 trillion asset manager said it would test the company’s $1 stablecoin as a settlement avenue for tokenized funds.
WLFI’s rally during morning hours in Asia was bigger than that of bitcoin or ether, which fell 0.5%, according to market data from CoinDesk.
The rally comes as speakers at the World Liberty Financial forum at Mar-a-Lago on Wednesday presented stablecoins as central to America’s financial leadership.
“The reality is that the entire financial system will be very different in the next five years than it has been in the last 50 years,” said Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) during the event. “This is going to happen somewhere. We’re going to see a tremendous amount of innovation in financial services. The question is, will it happen in the United States or somewhere else?”
Senator Moreno emphasized that lawmakers must “get this market structure bill to completion in the next 90 days,” arguing that clear rules for digital assets are critical if the United States wants to lead the next phase of financial innovation rather than handing it off abroad.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong also spoke about the importance of the market structure bill at the event, saying that banking trade groups, not individual banks, are responsible for stalling progress.
World Liberty Financial co-founder Zak Folkman framed the dollar as more than just a retail stablecoin, describing it as “an institutional-grade dollar” designed for real-world settlement and cross-border use.
“This is what we did when we wanted to build an institutional-grade dollar,” Folkman said, adding that the token will feature “real-time proof of reserves, powered by Chainlink,” allowing users to verify on-chain support.
In early February at Consensus in Hong Kong, Folkman teased an upcoming World Liberty Forex platform.
On Wednesday, Folkman positioned the dollar as a bridge for global payments, saying the project would start with the corridor between the United States and Mexico before expanding to support up to 40 currencies. “It’s about $1 as a settlement bridge,” he said.
Looking ahead, Folkman linked the stablecoin use case to AI-powered trading.
“We are entering a world where AI agents will need to carry out transactions autonomously,” he said. “AI agents can’t open bank accounts, they can’t sign checks, but they can hold stablecoins.”
“What we are building is a complete financial system,” Folkman added.
