Donald Trump-backed DeFi project leans on Chainlink amid criticism and unmet financial goals

Chainlink partnership could bolster WLFI's DeFi ambitions amidst funding shortfalls and criticism.

Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.

World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a DeFi project backed by US President-elect Donald Trump, has partnered with Chainlink to accelerate DeFi adoption.

This new alliance, announced on Nov. 14, names Chainlink as WLFI’s primary provider for on-chain data and cross-chain connectivity. The Oracle blockchain network would support the DeFi project’s upcoming launch on the Ethereum mainnet.

In the first phase of this integration, WLFI will adopt Chainlink’s Price Feeds on the Ethereum mainnet, which will enable the secure onboarding of digital assets like USDC, USDT, ETH, and WBTC for WLFI’s Aave v3 protocol instance. The WLFI Governance Platform is expected to approve this integration.

Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov noted that the network’s established security and reliability make it a strong choice for WLFI’s infrastructure needs. He also said that the collaboration between both platforms would allow the Trump-related project to attract users who value dependable technology within DeFi.

Financial challenges

The move to integrate Chainlink comes as WLFI faces challenges meeting its financial targets.

Initially aiming to raise $300 million, the project later scaled down its target to $30 million due to the tepid demand from crypto investors. Despite this reduction, data from its website shows that the project has fallen short of its revised funding goals, raising less than $20 million from 1.3 billion tokens sold.

World Liberty Financial envisions itself as a DeFi hub where users can lend, borrow, and invest in digital assets. The project stated that it aims to provide users with information and access to third-party DeFi applications that would support the adoption of US dollar-based stablecoins and ensure that the Dollar remains the world’s reserve currency.

The WLFI token is central to the project’s mission. The asset would allow holders to vote on protocol decisions and participate actively in shaping the platform’s future.

However, the project has drawn steep criticism from crypto community members. A report from asset management firm Galaxy Digital noted that WLFI currently functions as more of an idea than a fully developed protocol.

Galaxy continued that there is lots of uncertainty surrounding the project’s trajectory as there is little information about the project details, its finalized development plan, and necessary code releases. It added:

“The project’s key dependencies are not guaranteed, with the Aave licensing still in the air, and the market is not convinced of the protocol’s future even with crypto’s tendency to lean more Republican.”

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