(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump’s crypto platform, World Liberty Financial, appears to have exchanged roughly $10 million of what’s known as wrapped Bitcoin launched through Coinbase Global Inc. for similar tokens associated with project adviser Justin Sun.
A digital wallet belonging to the project on Wednesday swapped their entire holding of 103 cbBTC tokens for WBTC, the first widely adopted Bitcoin offshoot, according to blockchain data analytics firm Nansen. Wrapped Bitcoin tokens allow Bitcoin holders to participate in decentralized finance activities on the Ethereum blockchain. World Liberty has been promoted as a DeFi lending platform, though it hasn’t become operational yet.
“This is their own financial choice, I have nothing to do with it,” Sun said in a direct message. A spokesperson for World Liberty Financial didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sun, a high-profile China-born crypto entrepreneur maybe best know as of late for paying $6.2 million at a Sotheby’s auction for a banana duct-taped to a wall, invested $30 million in World Liberty Financial and became an adviser to the project in November. The infusion appeared to push the project over a threshold that allows Trump to profit from the enterprise.
Crypto custody firm BitGo, the operator of Wrapped Bitcoin, announced in August that it had launched a partnership and joint-venture with BiT Global in Hong Kong through a strategic partnership involving Sun. The announcement trigged a backlash from others involved in the project. Coinbase not only sought to delist WBTC from its exchange, but also launched its own version of wrapped Bitcoin, called cbBTC.
Earlier this month, BiT Global sued Coinbase over the delisting. In response to the lawsuit, Coinbase cited that at the conclusion of its diligence, Sun’s “affiliation with” and “potential control over” wBTC presented “an unacceptable risk to its customers and the integrity of its exchange.” A federal judge in California ruled this week in favor of Coinbase, denying BiT Global’s request for a temporary restraining order to block the delisting.
The shifting of tokens follows World Liberty’s purchases of cryptocurrencies such as AAVE and LINK last week. In addition, World Liberty’s wallets received about $250,000 worth of ONDO, the token of Ondo Finance, which specializes in tokenization on Dec. 15, Nansen’s data show.
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