This week, World Liberty Financial, a DeFi project backed by Donald Trump and his sons, launched its token sale, attracting only a fraction of its target audience. This event highlights current challenges in the DeFi sector.

Weak Token Sale Start

Earlier this week, World Liberty Financial, a DeFi project backed by Donald Trump and his sons, launched its much-anticipated token sale. However, the public sale only attracted a small fraction of its target, disappointing those who expected a strong performance.

Reasons for Failure

One potential reason for the lukewarm response could be the project’s structure, which heavily benefits the Trump family. According to the project’s ‘gold paper,’ Donald Trump and his associates will receive 22.5 billion tokens, valued at $337.5 million. Additionally, they have the right to claim 75% of the protocol’s net revenues, a setup that may have deterred investors.

Current State of DeFi

Beyond this project, the overall DeFi sector is still far from its peak. Unlike Bitcoin and Ethereum, which have seen price surges, DeFi projects haven’t regained the momentum they once had. Higher interest rates in traditional markets are part of the challenge. Sandy Peng, co-founder of blockchain solution Scroll and advisor to World Liberty, noted that the dynamics have shifted since the 2020 DeFi boom.

The struggles of the Trump-backed World Liberty project highlight the broader difficulties DeFi faces today. Both the project’s structure and current market conditions show that the path to mainstream success for DeFi remains uncertain.