The deal puts USD1 branding inside the Octagon at an event held on the White House South Lawn, on President Trump's 80th birthday.
The Block•Zack Abrams14 Jun
Elizabeth Warren has lashed out against World Liberty Financial over news that the Trump family-run crypto company partnered with a blockchain venture called AB, which has links to a sanctioned criminal syndicate. The Democrat senator’s comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported that two men linked to AB were sanctioned by the Trump administration for their alleged ties to the Prince Group. The Prince Group is accused of running crypto scam compounds and human trafficking operations out of Cambodia. The AB network has not been accused of criminality and has removed the men from the project. There is no suggestion that illicit funds flowed into the resort project the two men were involved with, per Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and Guardian Australia's reporting from earlier in April. The two men have not been charged with any crime. “As the Trump family puts themselves first, Congress needs to ensure that digital asset legislation protects our national security,” Warren said in a Thursday X post. The Massachusetts senator’s comments highlight how US President Donald Trump’s political rivals are increasingly using crypto to attack him and his political allies ahead of the crucial midterm elections in November. It comes as the crypto industry has spent over $319 million to influence the 2026 elections, according to Follow The Crypto. For World Liberty Financial, The Wall Street Journal report marks another setback. Over the past few weeks, it has found itself embroiled in a legal battle with Justin Sun, a crypto mogul and one of the firm’s biggest supporters. World Liberty Financial was launched in 2024 and co-founded by various members of Trump’s family, namely his three sons, as well as the sons of billionaire real estate developer Steve Witkoff, who serves as the White House’s special envoy to the Middle East. The White House and World Liberty Financial have said that Trump and Witkoff have no role in the company’s decision-making. What is AB? In November, AB announced a collaboration with the Trump family’s project that would see World Liberty Financial’s stablecoin USD1 deployed on the AB Chain. However, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that the controlling shareholder and general manager of one of its projects — a planned blockchain-themed resort in Timor-Leste — had been led by two men sanctioned by the US over their alleged links to the Prince Group. In November, Prince Group said in a statement that the firm categorically rejects the notion that it engaged in any unlawful activity. Prince Group told The Wall Street Journal that neither its founder nor the group has any connection with AB or Timor-Leste or any activity in the country. A lawyer for World Liberty Financial told The Wall Street Journal that it has never had any association or relationship with the sanctioned individuals and that it had no knowledge of the planned resort when it announced its arrangement with AB. The arrangement wasn’t a partnership but a “limited non-exclusive technology integration” and that the due diligence World Liberty Financial conducted was proportional with the nature of the arrangement, the lawyer told The Wall Street Journal . The Trump family’s crypto project didn’t identify any sanctioned individuals, he said. "Claims attempting to link World Liberty Financial with sanctioned individuals are unfounded and untrue," World Liberty Financial lawyers told OCCRP and Guardian Australia earlier in April. "[World Liberty Financial] has no relationship or association with any of these sanctioned individuals or the Timor-Leste project.” An AB spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that the arrangement with World Liberty Financial wasn’t related to the sanctioned men as the planned resort was an independent entity. He said that AB terminated a preliminary agreement with the project after the US sanctions were announced. The AB spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that it informed World Liberty Financial about the men when the company approached AB about the matter. The general manager of the planned resort told The Wall Street Journal that he had never had any business dealings with the Prince Group. Lawyers of the controlling shareholder of the project, have previously said that he wasn’t affiliated with the Prince Group, The Wall Street Journal reported. World Liberty Financial, AB and Prince Group didn’t immediately respond to DL News’ requests for comment. DL News could not immediately reach the two sanctioned men for comment. Eric Johansson is DL News’ managing editor. Got a tip? Email at eric@dlnews.com .
BTC: 95k (+3%) | BTC.D: 59.2% (-0.1%). ETH: 3313 (+6%) | BNB: 936 (+3%) | SOL: 145 (+2%). Top Gainers: IP, ICP, PUMP, PEPE, ENA. BTC ETFs: +$754m | ETH ETFs: +$130m. Crypto rallies on largest ETF inflow in 3 months. Senate committee to vote on crypto bill on Jan 27. Stablecoin issues with bill still being fought over. Ethena Labs makes USDe free from gas fees. Bitdeer overtakes MARA on ‘managed hashrate’. Polygon Labs to buy Coinme, Sequence for $250m. BitPanda eyes Frankfurt IPO in 1H26. CZ invests in perp trading platform Genius Terminal. Coingecko eyes sales at $500m valuation. Russia to open crypto markets more for payments. Crypto wrench attacks continue in France. Pakistan to integrate WLFI’s USD1.
Crypto majors are green; BTC +1.5% at $92,000; ETH +1% at $3,130, SOL +2% at $142; XRP +1% to $2.06. DASH (+60%), IP (+30%) and XMR (+13%) led top movers; XMR hit another new ATH at $680 (now $640). Gold and Silver hit new ATHs again in the wake of the Powell investigation. The US Senate released the draft Crypto Market Clarity Act, including limits on stablecoin rewards. Senator Warren pressed the SEC over inclusion of crypto in 401ks arguing they expose retirees to too much risk. Vitalik Buterin warned crypto needs better decentralized stablecoins, citing governance capture and inflation risks. World Liberty Financial launched a crypto lending platform built around its USD1 stablecoin, attracting ~$20M. BitGo filed for a U.S. IPO targeting a ~$2B valuation as custody assets surpassed $100B. Tennessee regulators ordered Polymarket, Kalshi, and Crypto.com to halt sports prediction markets and refund users, escalating a multi-state legal fight.
Crypto majors are green; BTC +1.5% at $92,000; ETH +1% at $3,130, SOL +2% at $142; XRP +1% to $2.06. DASH (+60%), IP (+30%) and XMR (+13%) led top movers; XMR hit another new ATH at $680 (now $640). Gold and Silver hit new ATHs again in the wake of the Powell investigation. The US Senate released the draft Crypto Market Clarity Act, including limits on stablecoin rewards. Senator Warren pressed the SEC over inclusion of crypto in 401ks arguing they expose retirees to too much risk. Vitalik Buterin warned crypto needs better decentralized stablecoins, citing governance capture and inflation risks. World Liberty Financial launched a crypto lending platform built around its USD1 stablecoin, attracting ~$20M. BitGo filed for a U.S. IPO targeting a ~$2B valuation as custody assets surpassed $100B. Tennessee regulators ordered Polymarket, Kalshi, and Crypto.com to halt sports prediction markets and refund users, escalating a multi-state legal fight.
Crypto majors fell again yesterday as btc lost $90k; btc -2% at $89,900; eth -3% at $3,100, sol -3% at $134; xrp -7% to $2.08. Lit (+3%), wlfi (+3%) and xmr (+3%) led top movers. Zec fell 19% after the developer team resigned following a dispute with the board; the team has promised to form a new company and continue the mission. Jpmorgan announced plans to launch its jpm coin on the canton network. Barclays invested in ubyx, a u.S. Stablecoin settlement startup, backing infrastructure that would let regulated institutions move digital money across issuers and wallets. The senate banking committee faces mounting pressure ahead of a key vote on crypto market structure legislation next week. Wyoming introduced its first state-issued stablecoin, frontier stable token, now available to the public. World liberty financial’s subsidiary applied for a national trust bank charter, aiming to issue and custody its usd1 stablecoin under a federally regulated framework. Starknet suffered a multi-hour outage due to a block production bug; the network paused and rolled back before resuming.