WLFI Token Linked to Trump Faces Steep Decline, Whales Suffer Millions in Losses
The World Liberty Financial (WLFI) token, associated with the Trump family, has experienced a dramatic price drop of more than 40% since its launch on Monday. This decline has resulted in significant financial losses for large cryptocurrency investors, commonly known as whales, who had bet on the token’s appreciation.
Efforts to stabilize the token’s value included a large-scale burn event on Wednesday that permanently removed 47 million WLFI tokens from circulation. The move was designed to tighten supply and bolster the remaining tokens’ market value. However, the burn failed to halt the downward trajectory, with the token price falling an additional 18% within 24 hours following the event.
Blockchain analytics platform Bubblemaps reported that among more than 85,000 pre-sale participants, 60% continue to hold WLFI tokens, while 29% have sold off their entire holdings, indicating mixed investor sentiment amid the volatility.
Crypto Whales Incur Heavy Losses Amid WLFI Sell-Off
Notably, a whale controlling wallet 0x432 closed a 3x leveraged long position on WLFI, incurring losses exceeding $1.6 million, according to Onchain Lens data. The same investor had realized a $915,000 profit on a prior position but re-entered the market prematurely, illustrating the risks of speculative trading driven by fear of missing out (FOMO).
Other large investors have also been offloading WLFI tokens at losses, signaling diminishing confidence in the token’s short-term price prospects.
Avalanche Blockchain Activity Surges on DeFi and Whale Speculation
In contrast to WLFI’s struggles, Avalanche blockchain has seen a significant uptick in activity, with transactions rising 66% week-over-week to 11.9 million across 181,000 active addresses. Analysts attribute this surge primarily to decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol activity, automated trading bots, and whale speculation targeting emerging memecoins.
This momentum follows the U.S. Department of Commerce’s recent adoption of Avalanche and other decentralized blockchains to publish real GDP data, though experts caution against directly linking the transaction growth to this governmental use.
DeFi Lending Protocols Experience Robust Growth Fueled by Institutional Interest
Decentralized lending platforms have witnessed a 72% increase in total value locked (TVL) year-to-date, rising from $53 billion to over $127 billion, as reported by Binance Research. This surge is driven by growing institutional adoption of stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), with protocols like Maple Finance and Euler recording exponential growth.
Industry analysts expect this trend to further bridge traditional finance and decentralized infrastructure, enhancing liquidity and enabling more efficient capital markets.
Mantle 2.0 Initiative Signals Convergence of CeFi and DeFi
Mantle Network, initially launched as an Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution under BitDAO, is entering a new phase called Mantle 2.0. This development aims to integrate centralized finance (CeFi) infrastructure with decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, leveraging Bybit exchange’s ecosystem to enhance liquidity and usability of the Mantle (MNT) token.
Delphi Digital highlights this strategy as a potential model for DAO-governed projects to collaborate with centralized exchanges, combining decentralized governance with the benefits of large user bases and deep liquidity.
Venus Protocol Recovers $13.5 Million in Crypto Following Phishing Attack
In a successful intervention, Venus Protocol helped a user recover $13.5 million lost in a phishing attack linked to North Korea’s Lazarus Group. The platform paused operations to prevent further losses and executed an emergency governance vote to liquidate the attacker’s wallet, securing the stolen assets.
DeFi Market Overview
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that most of the top 100 cryptocurrencies ended the week with gains. The meme token MemeCore (M) led the pack with a 236% increase, followed by Pump.fun’s (PUMP) token, which rose over 41%.
FinOracleAI — Market View
The sharp decline in WLFI token price, despite a significant token burn, highlights the challenges of speculative tokens linked to high-profile personalities. The losses incurred by whales underscore heightened volatility and risk in such assets. Meanwhile, increased activity on Avalanche and growth in DeFi lending protocols indicate robust investor interest in decentralized finance infrastructure and institutional adoption of tokenized assets. The Mantle 2.0 initiative suggests a strategic shift toward CeFi-DeFi convergence, which could foster liquidity and mainstream integration.
Impact: negative
