Warren Zeroes In On Crypto Deal Structure As $75M Loan Draws Attention

A $75 million loan backed by nearly half a billion dollars worth of a company’s own tokens is now at the center of a Senate push to get regulators involved in the Trump family’s crypto operations.

The Loan That Raised Questions

World Liberty Financial, the crypto project tied to US President Donald Trump and his family, reportedly used around $440 million worth of its WLFI governance tokens as collateral to borrow money through Dolomite, a decentralized lending platform.

The transaction produced roughly $65 million in the company’s own USD1 stablecoin and another $10 million in USDC. What made the deal stand out was the timing.

Regular investors who held WLFI tokens were still locked in — blocked from selling — while the transaction went through. Shortly after, the token’s price dropped nearly 10% to a record low.

Senator Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to SEC Chair Paul Atkins on May 14 asking the agency to look into whether World Liberty Financial misled investors or broke securities laws tied to the WLFI token. Warren set a response deadline of May 26.

The Crypto Issue: A Lopsided Structure

The senator’s concerns go beyond the loan. According to reports, Trump-affiliated entities stand to collect 75% of all WLFI token sale proceeds after expenses.

The investors who bought those tokens, by contrast, faced strict restrictions on when they could sell.

Warren’s letter cited reports that the company raised close to $715 million through token sales, while the Trump family’s total crypto-linked wealth connected to the project reportedly crossed $1 billion.

The Trump family currently holds roughly 22.5 billion WLFI tokens through an entity called DT Marks DEFI LLC.

Warren has been pushing for tighter investor protections as Congress reviews broader digital asset rules under the proposed CLARITY Act, one of the largest crypto-focused bills in US history.

During a recent CLARITY Act markup session, Warren introduced amendments specifically targeting the Trump family’s involvement in crypto markets.

Those amendments were voted down along party lines. The broader debate over crypto regulation continues, with the Warren letter adding pressure on the SEC at a moment when the agency is navigating both political crosswinds and calls from the industry for clearer rules.

Whether Atkins, who is widely viewed as friendly to the crypto sector, will take formal action remains to be seen.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView