Following a sudden market disruption, the usd1 stablecoin briefly misplaced its peg on Monday earlier than recovering, drawing renewed scrutiny to World Liberty Monetary and its deep crypto ties.
Assault briefly knocks USD1 off its greenback peg
World Liberty Monetary (WLFI), the crypto undertaking backed by President Donald Trump and his sons, stated it suffered a coordinated assault on Monday that quickly pushed the USD1 token beneath its $1 goal.
In accordance with CoinGecko knowledge, USD1 slipped to $0.994 at its lowest level, round 0.6% beneath its supposed peg, earlier than recovering to commerce within the $0.998 to $0.999 vary later within the day.
WLFI‘s native asset, the WLFI token, additionally got here beneath strain throughout the turmoil. Its worth dropped about 7% on the top of the incident, although it later clawed again a few of these losses.
World Liberty claimed on X that attackers compromised a number of co-founder accounts as a part of the operation. Furthermore, the undertaking stated the assault mixed social engineering, aggressive buying and selling methods, and third-party promotion to amplify harm.
Hacked accounts, quick sellers, and paid influencers
The corporate alleged that hackers took management of a number of senior crew accounts, which had been then used to unfold deceptive info and sow doubt amongst token holders. That stated, WLFI has not but disclosed detailed forensic findings.
On the identical time, quick sellers reportedly opened giant positions in opposition to the WLFI token, betting that damaging sentiment would set off a sharper worth decline. This alignment of hacked accounts and market bets raised considerations about deliberate market manipulation.
World Liberty additionally accused unnamed events of funding paid influencer campaigns designed to amplify concern, uncertainty, and doubt, or FUD, throughout social media. In accordance with the agency, these efforts sought to push retail merchants into panic promoting each WLFI and USD1.
The said objective of the marketing campaign, World Liberty stated, was to “manufacture chaos” across the undertaking and revenue from fast worth swings in its belongings.
How USD1’s design restricted the harm
The crew argued that the token’s underlying construction helped include the affect of the assault. Specifically, World Liberty highlighted its stablecoin mint and redeem mannequin, which lets customers trade every USD1 instantly for one US greenback.
In its X put up, the corporate stated: “Due to USD1’s sound mint-and-redeem mechanism and full 1:1 backing, we’re buying and selling steadily at par.” Nevertheless, market knowledge nonetheless confirmed buying and selling barely beneath the perfect $1 stage throughout the aftermath.
USD1 is totally backed 1:1 by a mixture of short-term US authorities treasuries, greenback deposits, and money equivalents. Crypto custodian BitGo oversees the reserve portfolio, whereas consulting agency Crowe supplies month-to-month attestation experiences to verify these holdings.
The usd1 stablecoin at the moment has a market capitalization of about $5 billion, inserting it nicely behind bigger rivals similar to Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC in general provide. Nonetheless, its fast progress has made it a central participant in sure buying and selling venues.
Binance’s dominant function raises questions
The timing of the assault drew consideration as a result of it occurred simply days after WLFI organized a high-profile crypto discussion board at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. The occasion featured authorities officers, banking executives, and former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao as audio system.
Trump pardoned Zhao in October 2025. Beforehand, Zhao had served 4 months in jail beneath a 2023 settlement with US authorities that additionally barred him from returning as chief govt of Binance.
In accordance with Forbes, Binance at the moment custodies roughly 87% of all USD1 in circulation, holdings valued at round $4.7 billion. Furthermore, each Bloomberg and The Wall Road Journal have reported that Binance performed a key function in serving to create USD1.
The stablecoin was utilized in March 2025 to settle a $2 billion funding from UAE-based agency MGX into Binance, these experiences stated. This deep integration has targeted consideration on binance usd1 holdings and the trade’s broader affect over the asset.
Political scrutiny over Trump and Zhao ties
In opposition to this backdrop, some US lawmakers at the moment are questioning whether or not Trump’s pardon of Zhao, mixed with WLFI’s hyperlinks to Binance, represents a possible battle of curiosity. Nevertheless, no formal enforcement actions have been introduced so far.
For his half, Zhao stated in January that there have been “no enterprise relationships in any respect” between himself and the Trump household. He additionally pressured that he didn’t intend to return as head of Binance, regardless of ongoing hypothesis in crypto circles.
On the time of writing, USD1 was buying and selling at roughly $0.998 to $0.999, nonetheless fractionally beneath its $1 goal however nicely above the intraday low. That stated, the episode has renewed debate over transparency, focus danger, and political publicity surrounding rising dollar-pegged belongings.
In abstract, World Liberty Monetary’s dealing with of the temporary usd1 peg loss, the resilience of its redeem mechanism, and Binance’s outsized function will stay central components as regulators, merchants, and policymakers assess the stablecoin’s long-term credibility.