Binance is prolonging its promotional program for the USD1 stablecoin, backed by the Trump family, offering airdrops of WLFI tokens to holders. This move follows a high-profile event at Mar-a-Lago hosted by World Liberty Financial and coincides with criticism from Democratic lawmakers, including Elizabeth Warren. The stablecoin has seen significant growth amid broader political scrutiny of crypto ventures.
Binance has announced an extension of its promotional program for USD1, a dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial, the cryptocurrency venture operated by Donald Trump's sons. The program, initially launched in December, previously offered up to 20% yield on holdings of up to $50,000. Now extended until March 20, it will distribute portions of a 235 million WLFI token rewards pool to clients holding USD1 on the exchange over the next month.
World Liberty Financial stated, “We’re stepping it up to ensure our early adopters are continuously incentivised for providing liquidity,” in an announcement on Thursday. Binance custodies 76% of the circulating USD1 tokens, according to Arkham data. Backed by US Treasuries and other securities, USD1 has increased 50% in value over the past month, reaching over $5 billion in issuance and ranking as the fifth-largest stablecoin, per DefiLlama data.
The promotion comes two days after World Liberty Financial's World Liberty Forum at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump's Florida retreat. The event featured speakers including the CEOs of Coinbase, BitGo, Franklin Templeton, and Goldman Sachs, as well as FIFA President Gianni Infantino, rapper Nicki Minaj, investor Kevin O’Leary, elected officials, and regulators. Notably absent was Changpeng Zhao, Binance's co-founder and former CEO, who was pardoned by Trump in October after serving four months in jail for anti-money laundering violations.
Binance's involvement is described as standard services. A Binance spokesperson told DL News in February: “Our involvement with World Liberty Financial–related products, including USD1, is limited to standard listing, infrastructure, and market-access services that we provide to a wide range of projects on consistent terms.”
Meanwhile, the Trump family's crypto activities face scrutiny from Democrats. In February, senators including Elizabeth Warren urged Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to investigate World Liberty Financial over a reported $500 million equity stake from a United Arab Emirates firm, citing a Wall Street Journal report of a 49% stake deal signed four days before Trump's inauguration. On February 19, Warren wrote to the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve, warning against using taxpayer funds for a crypto bailout, stating, “Not only would it be deeply unpopular to transfer wealth from American taxpayers to cryptocurrency billionaires, it could also directly enrich President Trump and his family’s cryptocurrency company, World Liberty Financial.”
The White House responded that “The president has no involvement in business deals that would implicate his constitutional responsibilities,” according to counsel David Warrington. Zhao commented on X: “Crypto never needed a bailout, never will.”
In related market activity, Bitcoin rose 2.0% to $68,181 in the past 24 hours, while Ethereum gained 0.1% to $1,967.
