Crypto Whales Suffer Massive Losses as Trump-Linked WLFI Token Plunges 40% Following 47M Token Burn

By: crypto insight|2025/09/04 15:30:01

Key Insights into WLFI’s Turbulent Ride

Imagine jumping into a high-stakes poker game where the cards seem promising at first, only to watch your chips vanish in a brutal downturn—that’s the harsh reality for big investors, or crypto whales, who dove headfirst into the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial (WLFI) token. These heavy hitters have been reeling from sharp declines, with the token dropping 40% from its debut price on Monday, leaving millions in losses scattered across the blockchain.

Picture one particular whale, tied to the wallet address 0x432, who boldly opened a 3X leveraged long position on WLFI and held it for almost 64 hours before closing it at 8:02 AM UTC on Thursday. As shared in a post from blockchain analytics tool Onchain Lens, this move led to a pre-fee profit and loss shortfall of about $1.63 million, plus fees around $2,667, resulting in a net hit of nearly $1.64 million. It’s a stark reminder that fear of missing out, or FOMO, can turn excitement into regret faster than a market crash.

Since hitting the scene, WLFI’s price chart has mirrored a classic descending triangle formation, a pattern that often signals trouble ahead, before it shattered its support level at $0.20 amid intense selling pressure. The token has plummeted over 60% from its peak of $0.46, showing no strong hints of bouncing back above $0.30 anytime soon.

Whale’s String of Setbacks with Trump Tokens

This isn’t the first rodeo for that same wallet owner. Back on September 1, they kicked off a long bet on the TRUMP token that lasted nearly 21 hours, ending in a pre-fee loss of roughly $76,400 and a net drain of about $80,220. Later that afternoon, a quick five-minute WLFI long position stung them for around $4,720 before fees, netting a loss of approximately $4,790. Undeterred, they tried another bullish WLFI play at 2:03 PM, holding for over three hours and facing pre-fee damages of about $21,380, with net losses close to $21,812. An even shorter WLFI long at 6:11 AM cost about $3,284 pre-fee, or roughly $3,510 after everything.

Data from Hyperdash reveals their final push with TRUMP involved a short ETH trade at 2:52 AM, erasing $135 before fees and nearly $311 net, followed by a long on August 31 at 7:17 PM that wiped out about $1,672 pre-fee and $1,861 net. It’s like watching a gambler chase losses at the casino, only here the stakes are digital and the house edge feels relentless.

WLFI started public trading on Monday, surging as high as $0.40 in pre-market futures buzz, but it swiftly cooled to around $0.24 by late afternoon. In the following day, it shed another 12% to about $0.246. As of this writing on September 4, 2025, at 15:24 UTC, WLFI is hovering near $0.182, down more than 20% in the past 24 hours, and it touched an all-time low of about $0.174 during Thursday’s pre-market sessions in the US.

Token Burn Fails to Spark Recovery

In a move that aimed to tighten supply and potentially boost value, World Liberty Financial executed a burn of 47 million WLFI tokens yesterday, worth over $11 million at the time, by dispatching them to addresses from which they can’t be recovered. This strategy, often compared to removing excess inventory to drive up demand in a store, was meant to promote holding and elevate prices. Yet, it didn’t stem the bleeding—WLFI kept sliding into the next day, scraping near its bottom despite the reduced circulation.

Even celebrities aren’t immune. Former kickboxing star and influencer Andrew Tate jumped into a WLFI long via the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid, only to see it liquidated on Tuesday for a $67,500 loss. He doubled down with another position, racking up nearly $700,000 in total WLFI trading defeats. It’s a vivid example of how even bold personalities can get burned in crypto’s volatile arena.

Trump’s Stake Remains a Bright Spot

Amid the investor pain, the launch looks like a win on paper for the Trump family. Donald Trump reportedly controls 15.75 billion WLFI tokens, pegging his holdings at around $3.4 billion as of now, making it the biggest slice of his fortune. Together with his sons’ shares, the family commands just under 25% of the 100 billion total supply, valued at an estimated $5 billion at current rates. This alignment with the Trump brand—rooted in themes of financial liberty and bold entrepreneurship—highlights how WLFI positions itself as more than just a token; it’s a statement of economic empowerment, resonating with supporters who see it as an extension of Trump’s vision for decentralized finance.

For those navigating these choppy crypto waters, platforms like WEEX stand out as a reliable choice. WEEX offers secure, user-friendly trading with advanced tools that help investors manage risks effectively, backed by robust security features and a commitment to transparency that builds trust in every transaction.

Latest Buzz and Updates on WLFI

Diving deeper, recent online chatter reveals WLFI dominating searches on Google, with users frequently asking about “WLFI token price prediction” and “Is WLFI a good investment?”—queries spiking amid the dip, reflecting widespread curiosity and concern. On Twitter, discussions are ablaze with topics like #WLFIcrash and #TrumpCrypto, where users debate the token’s ties to political figures and its potential recovery. A notable tweet from Onchain Lens on September 4, 2025, highlighted the whale’s massive loss, garnering thousands of retweets and fueling debates on market manipulation.

Official announcements from World Liberty Financial emphasize the burn’s intent to foster scarcity, but as of today, September 4, 2025, the token’s value hasn’t rebounded, with trading volume down 15% from yesterday’s levels according to on-chain data. Comparisons to past tokens like those linked to celebrities show WLFI’s drop isn’t unique—think of how some meme coins soar then crash—but evidence from blockchain trackers like Etherscan confirms the burn’s execution, with 47 million tokens indeed sent to dead addresses, reducing supply by about 0.47%.

This saga underscores crypto’s highs and lows, much like a rollercoaster where the thrill comes with real risks, backed by real data showing over 60% value erosion since launch.

FAQ

What caused the recent dip in WLFI’s price?

The WLFI token’s 40% decline stems from heavy selling after its debut, forming a descending triangle pattern that broke support at $0.20, despite a 47 million token burn aimed at boosting scarcity.

Is WLFI connected to Donald Trump, and how does it affect its value?

Yes, WLFI is linked to the Trump family, with Donald Trump holding a significant stake worth billions. This brand alignment adds a layer of political intrigue, but market forces like selling volume have driven the price down regardless.

Should I invest in WLFI amid these losses?

Investing in WLFI carries high risks, as shown by whale losses exceeding millions. Always conduct independent research and consider volatility, with current prices at $0.182 reflecting ongoing declines as of September 4, 2025.

Over the past 24 hours, the crypto market has shown strong momentum across multiple dimensions. The mainstream discussion has focused on Coinbase's official entry into the prediction market through the acquisition of The Clearing Company, as well as the intense controversy within the AAVE community regarding token incentives and governance rights.

In terms of ecosystem development, Solana has introduced the innovative Kora fee layer aimed at reducing user transaction costs; meanwhile, the Perp DEX competition has intensified, with the showdown between Hyperliquid and Lighter sparking widespread community discussion on the future of decentralized derivatives.

I. Mainstream Topics

1. Coinbase Acquires The Clearing Company, Officially Entering Prediction Market

This week, Coinbase announced the acquisition of The Clearing Company, marking another significant move to deepen its presence in this field after last week's announcement of launching a prediction market on its platform.

The Clearing Company's founder, Toni Gemayel, and the team will join Coinbase to jointly drive the development of the prediction market business.

Coinbase's Product Lead, Shan Aggarwal, stated that the growth of the prediction market is still in its early stages and predicts that 2026 will be the breakout year for this field.

The community has reacted positively to this, generally believing that Coinbase's entry will bring significant traffic and compliance advantages to the prediction market. However, this has also sparked discussions about the industry's competitive landscape.

Jai Bhavnani, Founder of Rivalry, commented that for startups, if their product model proves to be successful, industry giants like Coinbase have ample reason to replicate it.

This serves as a reminder to all entrepreneurs in the crypto space that they must build significant moats to withstand competition pressure from these giants.

2. Kalshi Launches Kalshi Research and Integrates BSC Network

Regulated prediction market platform Kalshi launched its research arm, Kalshi Research, this week, aimed at opening its internal data to the academic community and researchers to facilitate exploration of prediction market-related topics.

Its inaugural research report highlights Kalshi's outperformance in predicting inflation compared to Wall Street's traditional models. Kalshi co-founder Luana Lopes Lara commented that the power of prediction markets lies in the valuable data they generate, and it is now time to better utilize this data.

Meanwhile, Kalshi announced its support for the BNB Chain (BSC), allowing users to deposit and withdraw BNB and USDT via the BSC network.

This move is seen as a significant step for Kalshi to open its platform to a broader crypto user base, aiming to unlock access to the world's largest prediction market. Furthermore, Kalshi also revealed plans to host the first Prediction Market Summit in 2026 to further drive industry engagement and development.

3. AAVE Token Incentive Controversy Persists as Founders and Whales Increase Holdings Against the Market Trend

The AAVE community recently engaged in heated debates around an Aave Improvement Proposal (AIP) titled "AAVE Tokenomics Alignment Phase One - Ownership Governance," aiming to transfer ownership and control of the Aave brand from Aave Labs to Aave DAO.

Aave founder Stani Kulechov publicly stated his intention to vote against the proposal, believing it oversimplifies the complex legal and operational structure, potentially slowing down the development process of core products like Aave V4.

The community's reaction was polarized. Some criticized Stani for adopting a "double standard" in governance and questioned whether his team had siphoned off protocol revenue, while others supported his cautious stance, arguing that significant governance changes require more thorough discussion.

This controversy highlights the tension between the ideal of DAO governance in DeFi projects and the actual power held by core development teams.

Despite governance disputes putting pressure on the AAVE token price, on-chain data shows that Stani Kulechov himself has purchased millions of dollars' worth of AAVE in the past few hours.

Simultaneously, a whale address, 0xDDC4, which had been quiet for 6 months, once again spent 500 ETH (approximately $1.53 million) to purchase 9,629 AAVE tokens. Data indicates that this whale has accumulated nearly 40,000 AAVE over the past year but is currently in an unrealized loss position.

The founder and whale's increased holdings during market volatility were interpreted by some investors as a confidence signal in AAVE's long-term value.

4. Top Articles: DeFi Curators and Ethereum Annual Summary

In this week's top article, Morpho Labs' "Curator Explained" detailed the role of "curators" in DeFi.

The article likened curators to asset managers in traditional finance, who design, deploy, and manage on-chain vaults, providing users with a one-click diversified investment portfolio.

Unlike traditional fund managers, DeFi curators execute strategies automatically through non-custodial smart contracts, allowing users to maintain full control of their assets. The article offered a new perspective on the specialization and risk management in the DeFi space.

Another widely circulated article, "Ethereum 2025: From Experiment to Global Infrastructure," provided a comprehensive summary of Ethereum's development over the past year. The article noted that 2025 is a crucial year for Ethereum's transition from an experimental project to global financial infrastructure. Through the Pectra and Fusaka hard forks, Ethereum achieved significant reductions in account abstraction and transaction costs.

Furthermore, the SEC's clarification of Ethereum's "non-securities" nature and the launch of tokenized funds on the Ethereum mainnet by traditional financial giants like JPMorgan marked Ethereum's gaining recognition from mainstream institutions. The article suggested that whether it is the continued growth of DeFi, the thriving L2 ecosystem, or the integration with the AI field, Ethereum's vision as the "world computer" is gradually becoming a reality.

II. Mainstream Ecosystem Updates

1. Solana: Launches Kora Fee Layer and propAMM Data Research

The Solana Foundation engineering team released a fee layer solution called Kora this week.

Kora is a fee relayer and signatory node designed to provide the Solana ecosystem with a more flexible transaction fee payment method. Through Kora, users will be able to achieve gas-free transactions or choose to pay network fees using any stablecoin or SPL token. This innovation is seen as an important step in lowering the barrier of entry for new users and improving Solana network's availability.

Additionally, a deep research report on propAMM (proactive market maker) sparked community interest. The report's data analysis of propAMMs on Solana like HumidiFi indicated that Solana has achieved, or even surpassed, the level of transaction execution quality in traditional finance (TradFi) markets.

For example, on the SOL-USDC trading pair, HumidiFi is able to provide a highly competitive spread for large trades (0.4-1.6 bps), which is already better than the trading slippage of some mid-cap stocks in traditional markets.

Research suggests that propAMM is making the vision of the "Internet Capital Market" a reality, with Solana emerging as the prime venue for all of this to happen.

2. Perp DEX: Hyperliquid vs. Lighter Competition Intensifies

The competition in the perpetual contract DEX (Perp DEX) space is becoming increasingly heated.

In its latest official article, Hyperliquid has positioned its emerging competitor, Lighter, alongside centralized exchanges like Binance, referring to it as a platform utilizing a centralized sequencer. Hyperliquid emphasizes its transparency advantage of being "fully on-chain, operated by a validator network, and with no hidden state."

The community widely interprets this as Hyperliquid declaring "war" on Lighter. The technical differences between the two platforms have also become a focal point of discussion: Hyperliquid focuses on ultimate on-chain transparency, while Lighter emphasizes achieving "verifiable execution" through zero-knowledge proofs to provide users with a Central Limit Order Book (CLOB)-like trading experience.

This battle over the future direction of decentralized derivatives exchanges is expected to peak in 2026.

Meanwhile, discussions about Lighter's trading fees have surfaced. Some users have pointed out that Lighter charged as much as 81 basis points (0.81%) for a $2 million USD/JPY forex trade, far exceeding the near-zero spreads of traditional forex brokers.

Some argue that Lighter does not follow a B-book model that bets against market makers, instead anchoring its prices to the TradFi market, and the high fees may be related to the current liquidity or market maker balance incentives. Providing a more competitive spread for real-world assets (RWA) in the highly volatile crypto market is a key issue Lighter will need to address in the future.

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