The digital finance landscape is witnessing an unprecedented evolution. World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the cryptocurrency company linked to the Trump family, is bringing the President's brand to the structured credit market through an ambitious deal: the tokenization of interest on loan proceeds related to the Trump International Hotel and Resort Maldives.
This is not the sale of fractions of the physical property, but a regulated financial product that offers accredited investors exposure to the interest payments under the project's financing. In simple terms, the purchaser of these tokens does not own a piece of the resort, but a right to the cash flows from the debt.
The Structure of the Transaction: Beyond the Brick
Although the marketing may recall real estate, the substance of the offering is closer to a structured credit product. The token is linked to the cash flows from the loans; these flows will only materialise if the project is actually built, financed on sustainable terms and successfully operated by 2030, the expected completion date.
The use of blockchain in this context acts as an infrastructure for issuance, ownership registration and distribution, operating under strict rules for accredited investors. The underlying risk remains the traditional one: a hierarchy of payments (waterfall) where the repayment priority and the creditworthiness of the borrower are the central elements for the investor.
The Economy of the "Wrapper" and the Weight of the Mark
The deal introduces a lucrative business model for the Trump family. The DT Marks DEFI entity will in fact receive 75% of the revenues from the sales of the $WLFI tokens, net of costs. This means that the issuer earns immediately from the sale of the financial product, regardless of whether the Maldives resort generates profits years from now.
The Trump brand acts as a powerful distribution accelerator. Its media power reduces customer acquisition costs and turns a technical and complex product into an attractive asset for an audience beyond the boundaries of typical private credit investors.
conformity and infrastructure-regulated
To grant legitimacy to a product with such politically charged contours, WLFI relied on Securitize, a leading tokenization firm with over $4 billion under management and partnered with giants such as BlackRock and KKR. This choice places the token in a regulated ecosystem, with restrictions on transfers and eligibility checks, effectively making it a modern private placement on blockchain rather than a freely exchangeable cryptocurrency.
A Financial Success Amid Political Controversy
Trump's evolution in the crypto world has been meteoric: from digital collectibles (NFTs) to sophisticated financial engineering. According to the Wall Street Journal, World Liberty Financial has generated at least $1.2 billion in cash in 16 months, in addition to $2.25 billion in paper earnings.
However, the path is not without its obstacles. A controversial deal with an Abu Dhabi sheikh, who bought 49% of WLFI for $500 million, has drawn the attention of Senate Democrats, who have called for a CFIUS investigation for potential national security risks. Nonetheless, the recent crypto summit at Mar-a-Lago confirmed Trump's centrality to this sector, bringing together the country's leading CEOs and regulators.
The Challenge of 2030
With a time horizon set to 2030, investment requires patience and careful management of macroeconomic and construction risks. Its success will say a lot about the future of finance: whether the brand of a political leader can truly normalise the tokenization of private credit on a large scale, transforming complex debt contracts into globally distributed digital products.
