The Chinese Community Behind the Trump Coin Project

Image Source: "Water Margin" (1998 Edition)

In the year 298 BC, under the patronage of Lord Pingyuan of the State of Zhao, there were 3,000 guests, yet only one, Moss Roberts, could debate with a group of scholars at the Chu state court and secure a future for Zhao.

Over two thousand years later, on September 1, 2025, a token named WLFI made its debut on a global exchange platform. The trans-Pacific Chinese capital network is now upholding the digital empire of the U.S. presidential family.

Behind this $40 billion project stands a group of modern-day "guests." There's a Chinese billionaire who invested $75 million, the founder of a platform seeking presidential pardon, a stablecoin expert deeply rooted in the Asian market, and a force from the East known as one who could elevate the Trump family's wealth to new heights while also swiftly returning them to poverty in times of transgression.

As the wealth of the American political family intertwines with Eastern capital and China influences the global crypto landscape through the Hong Kong market, a new geopolitical game is unfolding.

Binance: The Central Node of the Chinese Network

To understand the influence of the Chinese in the WLFI project, one must start with Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange platform. Founded by Chinese individuals, this platform has now become the nerve center of the entire Chinese crypto network.

Binance captures about a third of the global cryptocurrency trading volume, with a daily turnover exceeding $20 billion. Its penetration rate in the Asian market is even higher, surpassing 60%, meaning that most fund flows have to go through its system. This level of control has elevated Binance to a near-monopolistic position within the Chinese network.

Binance's founder, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), was once sentenced to four months in prison for violating anti-money laundering regulations. According to insiders, CZ is currently seeking Trump's pardon through various channels. This rumor is not groundless. During his first term, Trump had shown leniency to several financial criminals, including his former campaign manager, Paul Manafort. For CZ, although a four-month sentence may seem short, for someone controlling assets worth hundreds of billions, the founder's freedom is crucial for the entire system's stability.

On March 13, 2025, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump family was in talks to acquire a significant stake in Binance US, a claim strongly refuted by CZ. Subsequently, Bloomberg published an article stating their confidence in some of the information, citing four anonymous insiders, including news of an upcoming stablecoin collaboration between the two parties, now known as USD1.

Despite strong denials from both parties, the interaction between USD1 and Binance still reflects a close relationship between the two.

At the end of April, WLFI and CZ's official social media accounts posted a photo of WLFI's three co-founders meeting with CZ in Abu Dhabi, discussing topics such as expanding global adoption, setting new standards, and taking cryptocurrency to new heights.

In early May, Eric Trump, son of former President Donald Trump, revealed during the Token2049 event that the Abu Dhabi investment firm MGX had invested $2 billion in Binance, using USD1 stablecoin as the payment method. Typically, these funds should be quickly exchanged into USD, but Binance left $1.9 billion in its own address, becoming the largest holder of USD1, accounting for 92.8% of the total circulation.

This action directly raised the market cap of USD1 from $130 million to $2.1 billion. Excluding this amount, the actual circulation of USD1 is only around $100 million. The seemingly inflated data became a key support for WLFI's $400 billion valuation. Such a liquidity injection operation could be considered market manipulation in traditional financial markets, but it has become a common practice in the relatively unregulated cryptocurrency space.

During the same month, WLFI officially released an X tweet, openly supporting Binance's BNB Chain ecosystem development and the cultural mascot Meme coin $B (BUILDon), and purchased around $25,000 worth of $B. The market was shocked by this news, and the token price surged, reaching a market cap of over $300 million at one point.

WLFI's public endorsement of $B is more than just a small investment. For Binance, the Meme coin is both an amplifier of community sentiment and a natural entry point for traffic. The attention brought by the hype around $B quickly fed back into the narrative of USD1. It was no longer just a newly launched stablecoin but was packaged into the larger story of "ecosystem expansion" and "community building."

In this system, Binance is using familiar tactics to intertwine stablecoin promotion with the fervor of the Meme market, first attracting attention with the Meme coin and then embedding USD1 in the role of a "base currency." Hype has become a strategy, and heat has become a tool for market education. As a result, the ecosystem promotion of USD1 rapidly gained a much larger volume of engagement than its actual size.

Assembly of Chinese Gatekeepers

Outside of the Binance core, there is also a group of technology projects that have partnered with WLFI, making the connections within the entire ecosystem even closer. These seemingly independent companies actually together weave a sophisticated Chinese capital network.

Ryan Fang: The Only Chinese Team Member, Binance's Most Trusted Project Operator

Within WLFI's Chinese technical network, Ryan Fang occupies an important position, being the only Chinese member of the current team. At the same time, Ankr is also widely recognized in the industry as part of the "Binance Direct Lineage." In addition to BSC node and liquidity staking services, well-known BSC (now BNB Chain) ecosystem projects such as BounceBit, Auction, and Neura all come from the Ankr team.

Ryan is the co-founder and COO of Ankr, and has also been involved in the creation of PrimeBlock and Tomo. He previously worked at Morgan Stanley and later entered the private equity industry, accumulating experience in traditional finance. These backgrounds have allowed him to quickly understand the combination of funds and technology in the blockchain world.

Ankr, as a global leader in blockchain infrastructure services, provides RPC nodes and cross-chain tools for multiple projects, including Binance's BSC chain. The circulation of USD1 relies on these nodes to complete transfer confirmations and network stability, and through Ankr's cross-chain services, USD1 can freely move across multiple chains such as Ethereum, BNB Chain, and Polygon.

Within WLFI, Ankr also plays another role. Its Liquid Staking product allows USD1 to be staked to generate yield, transforming this type of token from a simple payment tool into an asset with financial attributes. Users not only receive rewards but also contribute liquidity to the entire ecosystem. Ankr has served more than eight thousand blockchain projects, and these existing client relationships form a natural channel for the expansion of USD1. Stablecoins looking to enter new application scenarios can leverage Ankr's network for distribution.

As a modern-day "gatekeeper," Ryan Fang, through infrastructure, embeds a newly issued stablecoin into the daily operation of the global crypto market.

Rich Teo: Overseeing the Stablecoin Foxconn Factory

In the WLFI project, there is also the presence of Paxos co-founder Richmond Teo.

Paxos was once Binance's key stablecoin partner. Its issued BUSD was long used as Binance's primary stablecoin, with a market capitalization exceeding 20 billion USD at one point. In 2022, Paxos temporarily became the world's leading stablecoin issuer and technology provider. Its co-founder, Rich Teo, had a good personal relationship with Binance CEO CZ. At that time, there was even a significant scandal in the crypto community, prompting CZ to rare post on social media to deny the rumors.

By 2023, U.S. regulatory agencies demanded that Paxos cease issuing BUSD, causing the company to fall from its peak and enter a prolonged period of silence. The industry widely believed that Paxos had lost its competitiveness. However, with the advancement of U.S. stablecoin legislation, Paxos once again became one of the teams benefiting from regulatory advantages, issuing stablecoins such as PayPal's PYUSD and DBS Bank's USDG through their platform.

While at Paxos, Teo was responsible for the Asian market business and was very familiar with the compliant paths of stablecoins under different regulatory systems. The suspension of BUSD was a heavy blow to him, but it also forced him to accumulate experience in dealing with regulatory challenges and market contraction. For WLFI, this experience is particularly critical. The issuance and circulation of USD1 also face regulatory uncertainties.

Teo's return is not just a personal comeback but also signifies Paxos' attempt to find an opportunity to re-enter the stablecoin race through WLFI. This relationship makes USD1 more easily accepted in the market and provides additional assurance of Binance's trust in WLFI. For the entire Chinese community, Teo's participation means that a crucial piece has been added back in terms of compliance and regulation.

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