From the new darling of stablecoins to a new player in the lending market: Analyzing the dual strategy of World Liberty and USD1

In the wave of continuous evolution in the cryptocurrency market, some projects are consolidating their market position by building multi-layered product matrices. Supported by former U.S. President Trump and his family, the project World Liberty Financial has been making frequent moves recently, with a clear strategic blueprint emerging: after the flagship product USD1 stablecoin successfully ranks among the market leaders, the project is fully advancing into the core battlefield of cryptocurrency lending. This dual-driven model of “Stable Asset + Financial Services” not only signifies that the project itself has entered a new development stage but also introduces new variables to the overall crypto market landscape.

USD1: One of the Fastest Growing US Dollar Stablecoins

World Liberty’s expansion ambitions are built on a solid market foundation of its stablecoin USD1. Since its launch in March 2025, USD1 has demonstrated remarkable growth momentum. According to the latest on-chain data, as of January 2026, USD1’s circulating market cap has rapidly risen to nearly $3.5 billion, firmly occupying a top position in the global US dollar stablecoin market. Its size has surpassed many established projects, trailing only behind PayPal’s PYUSD.

The rapid rise of USD1 is mainly attributed to the following factors:

• Strong endorsement and attention: The project’s close association with the Trump family has brought unparalleled market exposure and trust from certain investor groups.
• Clear compliance pathway: World Liberty has not stopped at market expansion; its affiliated entities have officially submitted applications to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in the U.S., aiming to establish a national trust bank focused on stablecoin issuance, custody, and exchange. If approved, this will fully bring USD1 under federal regulation, paving the way for long-term stability and mainstream institutional adoption.
• Broad application scenario expansion: Besides serving as a trading medium, USD1 is being deeply integrated into the newly launched financial ecosystem of World Liberty, continuously enhancing its core utility.

On the Gate trading platform, USD1 is one of the key US dollar stablecoins, providing convenient deposit, withdrawal, and trading pair services for users worldwide. Its price has remained closely pegged to $1 for a long time, with good market depth and liquidity, making it a reliable tool for asset allocation and value storage in the crypto market.

Entering the Core Battlefield: Launch of World Liberty Markets Lending Platform

Building on the initial success of the stablecoin, World Liberty’s second strategic move targets the cornerstone of crypto finance— the lending market. The newly launched “World Liberty Markets” is a lending platform, marking the project’s official entry into the cryptocurrency lending field.

The platform’s technical backbone is supported by the DeFi lending protocol Dolomite, allowing users to use assets such as USD1, Ethereum (ETH), USDC, USDT, and tokenized Bitcoin as collateral to borrow and lend digital assets. This design cleverly places the project’s native stablecoin at the core of its ecosystem while supporting mainstream market assets, aiming to quickly attract liquidity.

The timing of this move is quite meaningful:

Currently, the crypto lending market is recovering strongly from the lows after 2022. According to a report released by Galaxy Digital in November 2025, as of the end of Q3 2025, the total active DeFi loans had risen to nearly $41 billion, driving the combined crypto lending scale on centralized and decentralized platforms to a record high of about $74 billion. The strong market demand provides a valuable window for new entrants.

Behind Ecosystem Expansion: Opportunities and Caution

World Liberty’s expansion from a single stablecoin issuance to comprehensive crypto financial services is a high-risk, high-reward strategic leap. Its market impact and potential challenges are equally significant.

Potential Impact on Market Landscape:

• Intensifying DeFi lending competition: The entry of World Liberty Markets will further intensify competition in the DeFi lending sector. With its massive traffic advantage and native integration of USD1, it may challenge existing giants like Aave and Compound.
• Promoting “political concept coin” ecosystemization: The project aims to transform its native governance token WLFI’s influence into practical financial products, attempting to explore a path beyond mere concept hype for politically-backed crypto projects to realize practical value.
• Attracting traditional attention and regulatory scrutiny: Regardless of the outcome of its national trust bank application, this direct pursuit of federal-level compliance will prompt regulators to consider how to incorporate innovative crypto businesses into the existing financial regulatory framework.

Inescapable Controversies and Risks:

However, rapid development always carries shadows of controversy. The core dispute lies in the fact that former U.S. President Trump is listed as a co-founder of the project and has received substantial financial gains from it (according to Reuters, in the first half of 2025 alone, his family earned hundreds of millions of dollars from WLFI and related sales), sparking widespread criticism and regulatory review over “potential conflicts of interest between the presidency and personal business interests.” Although World Liberty claims that the Trump family does not participate in daily operations, how to thoroughly dispel market doubts in this regard will be key to gaining broader institutional trust.

Market Data and Observations

As World Liberty’s ecosystem expands, the market performance of its related assets has attracted attention. As of January 13, 2026, according to Gate data:

• USD1’s price remains stably pegged around $1.00, demonstrating a very solid fundamental as a stablecoin. Its large market cap acts as a ballast to maintain price stability.
• The core governance token WLFI’s price fluctuations more vividly reflect market sentiment towards the project’s overall development and news. Driven by positive news such as the lending platform launch, WLFI often gains short-term attention, but as a more volatile asset, its price is also more susceptible to overall market sentiment, regulatory news, and project-specific controversies. Investors trading such assets on platforms like Gate should closely monitor their high volatility characteristics.

Through the combination of “stablecoin + lending platform,” World Liberty Financial has completed an important strategic upgrade. The success of USD1 provides a solid financial base and traffic entry point, while the development of lending services is a key step in deepening the value of its traffic. If this model can run smoothly, it will demonstrate that crypto projects driven by specific IPs have the potential to build sustainable financial ecosystems.

However, this path is bound to be fraught with thorns. Besides fierce market competition and technical risks, the project must also continuously address compliance and public opinion challenges arising from its unique political background, which far exceed those of ordinary projects. For market participants, World Liberty’s grand strategy not only showcases the tremendous energy generated by the integration of crypto industry and traditional influence but also provides an excellent case for observing the complex interactions among innovation, market, and regulation.