World Liberty Financial, the crypto company backed by US President Donald Trump and his sons, reported being targeted by hackers, “paid influencers,” and short sellers in an effort to “manufacture chaos” against the USD1 stablecoin.
In a Monday X post, World Liberty said the attack, which happened earlier this morning, failed after hackers targeted “several WLFI cofounder accounts,” opened “massive shorts” against the company’s WLFI token, and “paid influencers to spread FUD [fear, uncertainty, and doubt].”
The price of WLFI dipped by about 7% amid the “manufactured chaos,” according to the company, but was trading at $0.1128 at the time of publication. USD1 similarly dropped to about $0.994, briefly losing its peg to the US dollar, before returning to more than $0.999.
“Thanks to USD1’s sound mint-and-redeem mechanism and full 1:1 backing, we are trading steadily at par,” said World Liberty. No scammer can shake the long-term commitment of the entire WLFI team and cofounders to USD1.”
The attack came just days after a World Liberty-organized crypto forum at Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, which included speakers from the US government, crypto and banking industries, and former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, whom the president pardoned in October 2025. Forbes reported on Feb. 9 that Binance holds about 87% of the USD1 in circulation, worth about $4.7 billion at the time.
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Ties between WLFI and Binance are still under scrutiny
Some US lawmakers are questioning potential connections between World Liberty and Binance entities after Trump’s pardon of Zhao.
The former CEO had been barred from a leadership role at Binance as a result of a 2023 deal with US authorities in which he later served four months in prison, but the presidential pardon would effective allow him to legally return. Zhao said in January that there were “no business relationships whatsoever” between himself and the Trump family, and he did not intend to return to lead Binance.
Both Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal have reported that Binance helped create USD1. The stablecoin was also used to settle a $2 billion investment by UAE-based company MGX into Binance in March 2025, leading to conflict of interest accusations due to WLFI’s ties to the president’s family.
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