WorldLiberty said in a statement that the stablecoin, called USD1, will be fully backed by U.S. Treasuries, U.S. dollars and other cash equivalents and trade 1:1 with the U.S. dollar.
U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins such as Tether and USDC have grown rapidly in recent years and are now a key link in the multi-trillion-dollar cryptocurrency trading industry, helping funds move between different cryptocurrencies or be converted into regular cash. According to data provider CoinGecko, the total number of stablecoins in circulation currently exceeds $237 billion.
Stablecoin issuers have profited handsomely in recent years as interest rates have soared. Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin issuer, made more than $13 billion in profits last year.
Zach Witkoff
Zach Witkoff, co-founder of WorldLiberty, said that “sovereign investors and major institutions” will be able to incorporate USD1 “into their strategies for seamless, secure cross-border transactions.”
WorldLiberty was founded two months before Trump won the US presidential election and was announced by Trump, his three sons and real estate developer Steve Witkoff, Zach's father and now Trump's special envoy to the Middle East.
Trump campaigned on a promise to become a "crypto president," pledging to overhaul U.S. regulations on cryptocurrencies and reverse former President Joe Biden's crackdown on the industry. His crypto business interests, including the launch of a so-called meme coin in January, have been criticized by government ethics experts and political opponents for potential conflicts of interest.
The startup, called WorldLiberty, aims to give people access to financial services without intermediaries like banks. The company said last week it had raised $550 million by selling a cryptocurrency called WLFI.
Kevin Lehtinity is CEO of New York-based payments infrastructure company Borderless. He said the U.S. dollar will face stiff competition from existing players such as Tether and Circle, the U.S. company that issues USDC. “While launching a stablecoin is easy, building an ecosystem that adopts a stablecoin is much more difficult,” he said. “Is the president competing with other American businesses, or will they find a way to collaborate?”
WorldLiberty said USD1’s reserves will be held by California-based BitGo, and BitGo’s prime brokerage services will support USD1 by “providing deep liquidity and trading to institutional clients.”