When Trump fans snapped up $550 million worth of WLFI, the token tied to the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial crypto project, they thought they were getting the deal of the century. Tokens bought for between $0.015 and $0.05 between October 2024 and January 2025 soared to an all-time high of $0.33 when they started trading last September, turning modest purchases into small fortunes overnight — at least on paper.

But there was just one catch.

World Liberty Financial’s creators, which include US President Donald Trump and his sons Eric, Donald Jr., and Barron, granted themselves the sole power to decide who can sell and when.