World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s outrageously corrupt cryptocurrency venture, scrambled to launch a WLFI governance token buyback program after the Republican defeat in the 2026 midterm elections this week sent its value down about 10%… so far.
Reuters reports that the purchase “will be financed by an initial allocation that will generate revenue from reserves that support its USD1 stablecoin and other sources,” and the company has portrayed it as a way to encourage participation in governance and increase the voting power that long-term token holders have. World Liberty did not say how much it plans to spend. There is also another way of looking at it: Reuters notes that the token is down more than 60% this year, a trend that began long before a Democratic victory in the midterms was considered inevitable.
The crypto industry has largely thrown in the Republicans and the White House, and this cycle has spent hard and failed attempts to defeat Democratic candidates such as the prominent crypto critic Sherrod Brown (now senator-elect from Ohio). So it can likely expect both a much tougher legislative climate and more scrutiny of the friendly relations it has with Trump-appointed regulators. The inbound Democratic House is reportedly already planning a market structure bill that would give the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) more power, while the long-stalled Clarity Act, which Democrats have portrayed as weak, is unlikely to attract much support without significantly stricter rules.
“I wouldn’t say it’s game over for clarity, but it’s gotten tougher. “Any agreement is likely to require stronger provisions on things like consumer protection and conflicts of interest.”
World Liberty Financial is not the only crypto company that has been using buybacks lately – Bitcoin Treasury Company Strategy has also taken an alternative route (preferred stock buybacks) in recent days. The goal of buybacks in general is for a company to increase or stabilize its own market value. The strategy did this to support the price of its STRC preferred shares near $100 and reduce its preferred capital outstanding. In the case of World Liberty Financial, a buyback more or less means that you are trying to patch a gigantic leak on the side of WLFI by putting cash into it.
But the election results pose specific problems for World Liberty Financial that stretch beyond the economy. The Democrats are about to take back control of the extensive investigative powers of Congress, and World Liberty Financial is the jewel of the crypto investment network, which has generated at least $2.3 billion for Trump and his family as per Reuters in June 2026. Investors in those crypto projects have also mysteriously lost about $2.3 billion… hmm.
Given that the degree of corruption and incompetence of this administration is matched only by its arrogance, it’s a solid bet that Democrats will find a loose thread to pull everywhere. (The likely incoming House Oversight Chairman, Representative Robert Garcia, calls them the “Trump crime family.”) Trump’s first dive into crypto while in office was such a bold move that the Clarity Act was held up in part because of partisan fighting over the inclusion of ethics rules that could strengthen Trump.
In August, the news division of the Project On Government Oversight reported that the SEC said it did not have an investigation from last year into AI Financial Corporation (formerly Alt5 Sigma), which collapsed in value after signing a deal to buy $717 million worth of tokens from World Liberty Financial. Legal experts expressed concern that the lack of an SEC investigation into the deal was a huge red flag about the president’s involvement. A separate Trump crypto venture, the TRUMP memecoin, has aggressively promoted itself by offering major investors the chance to attend dinner with Trump. Democrats have accused the whole thing of being a vehicle for Trump to sell access and influence.
A PR agency for World Liberty Financial did not immediately return Gizmodo’s request for comment, but we’ll update if we hear back.