What Really Happened Inside Trump's Invite-Only Crypto Summit at Mar-a-Lago

World Liberty Financial's inaugural World Liberty Forum on February 18 was not a typical crypto conference. Held inside the gilded ballroom of Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, the invite-only event drew roughly 300 attendees including Wall Street CEOs, sitting senators, federal regulators, a pardoned crypto billionaire, and a Grammy-winning rapper. 

There was no public livestream. Only a handful of journalists were allowed inside. What came out of it was a string of business deals, political statements, and a room full of traditional finance leaders publicly attaching their names to the Trump family's crypto venture.

Who Was Actually in the Room?

The guest list covered territory that few crypto events have managed. On the finance side, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman, New York Stock Exchange president Lynn Martin, and Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson all took the stage. Coinbase and BitGo were also represented among speakers.

The political and regulatory presence was just as notable:

• CFTC Commissioner Michael Selig attended. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is the agency that plays a central role in policing crypto derivatives markets in the US.
• Small Business Administration administrator Kelly Loeffler spoke from the stage.
• Republican senators Ashley Moody of Florida and Bernie Moreno of Ohio both addressed the crowd.

Then there was Binance founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, estimated to be worth nearly $80 billion, who was spotted on the patio shaking hands. His presence was significant. Trump pardoned CZ just four months earlier, after Zhao pleaded guilty in 2023 to violating the Bank Secrecy Act, a federal law requiring financial institutions to assist government agencies in detecting money laundering. Binance currently holds roughly 87% of the more than $5 billion USD1 in circulation.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino attended, as did rapper Nicki Minaj and investor Kevin O'Leary. Minaj used her time at the microphone to mention her nail company and described picking up a Trump-signed Bible, scarves, and perfume from the White House merch room during a recent visit.

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon was candid about why he showed up. 

"I'm here because Alex Witkoff called me. When great clients of the firm ask me to do something, I say I'd be delighted to," he told the room.

President Trump himself did not attend, according to Reuters.

What Business Deals Came Out of the Event?

The forum was not just a networking event. World Liberty Financial used it to announce two concrete deals.

The Apex Group Partnership

The biggest announcement was a new partnership with the Apex Group, a multinational financial services firm with $3.5 trillion in assets serviced. Apex CEO Peter Hughes said the company had been actively looking for a stablecoin provider so clients could hold stablecoins on corporate balance sheets, essentially treating them like digital cash equivalents within a company's finances. 

Hughes said he vetted multiple providers before choosing World Liberty based on its proof of reserve, a transparency mechanism that lets outside parties independently verify the assets backing a stablecoin actually exist. Hughes suggested that corporate adoption of stablecoins at scale could push total market size to $15 to $20 trillion, a level that would put real pressure on industry leader Tether.

The Maldives Hotel Tokenization

World Liberty also announced it is tokenizing loan revenue interests in the Trump International Hotel and Resort in the Maldives. The project is being structured in partnership with DarGlobal, a Saudi-linked luxury real estate developer listed on the London Stock Exchange, and Securitize, a platform that specializes in bringing real-world assets onchain. The resort is scheduled for completion in 2030 and will feature approximately 100 ultra-luxury beach and overwater villas. Financing will be done in USD1, World Liberty's dollar-pegged stablecoin.

Tokenization here means that ownership of loan revenue interests in the property is represented as digital tokens on a blockchain, making them transferable and tradeable in ways that traditional real estate investments are not. The offering is structured as a private placement under Rule 506(c) of Regulation D of the Securities Act of 1933, restricting participation to verified accredited investors only. Accredited investors must meet specific income or net worth thresholds set by the SEC.

What Did the Trump Brothers Say?

Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. co-hosted the event and both came out swinging against the traditional banking system.

Eric Trump called the day "magical" and told the crowd he has "never been more bullish on Bitcoin," suggesting the asset could eventually reach $1 million per coin. He acknowledged Bitcoin's volatility but framed it as normal for an asset in its growth phase, contrasting it with what he described as the low yields of traditional fixed-income investments like US Treasuries and municipal bonds.

Donald Trump Jr. was sharper in his criticism. He called the traditional banking system a "Ponzi scheme" during an interview with CNBC at the forum and said the family's entry into crypto was not voluntary. 

"We didn't get into crypto because we were on the leading edge. We got into it out of necessity. They basically forced us into it," he said.

Both brothers attributed the situation to banks including Capital One and JPMorgan Chase closing hundreds of Trump Organization accounts in early 2021, which they linked to the political fallout following January 6 of that year. "They created their own worst enemy. They created a monster," Trump Jr. said.

What Did Regulators and Senators Push For?

CFTC Commissioner Michael Selig used his time at the forum to call for federal regulators to move faster on crypto oversight before inconsistent state-level rules created a fragmented market. He spoke about his desire to preempt state regulations across crypto, artificial intelligence, and betting markets.

Senator Bernie Moreno told reporters he expects Congress to pass the Clarity Act by April. The Clarity Act is a proposed bill that would define the separate oversight roles of the CFTC and the SEC over digital assets, two agencies that have long competed for jurisdiction over crypto. 

"We are going to have that regulatory clarity bill passed, hopefully by April, and then the industry is going to blossom here in America," Moreno said.

Senator Ashley Moody predicted broader stablecoin adoption among mainstream users, telling the crowd she believed the demographic of stablecoin holders would widen significantly as usage expanded.

World Liberty CEO Zach Witkoff set the tone at the start of the event. "We are not building this alone. We are building it with the institutions in the room," he said. His framing for USD1 was direct: "a faster dollar" designed to keep the US currency dominant in digital settlement.

Where Does World Liberty Financial Stand Now?

World Liberty Financial was founded in 2024 and is co-founded by Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Barron Trump, and Zach and Alex Witkoff. The Trump family holds a reported 38% stake in the company.

Its USD1 stablecoin now has approximately $5.1 billion in circulation, up from $3 billion just weeks prior, making it the fifth-largest stablecoin by market cap according to DeFiLlama. The company also operates WLFI Markets, a decentralized lending platform that reportedly processed $328 million in loans and $239 million in borrowing within its first four weeks.

However, the project carries ongoing controversy. A Wall Street Journal report revealed that entities linked to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, brother of the UAE's ruler, made a $500 million investment four days before Trump's inauguration. Democrats in Congress have demanded information from the company and may issue subpoenas if they regain power in the midterms.

Meanwhile, WLFI token holders who invested $550 million have been unable to sell their tokens, with prices sitting roughly 69% below the token's peak. World Liberty has released only 20% of the total supply, and a promised community vote on unlocking the rest has not taken place.

Conclusion

The World Liberty Forum packed a significant amount of activity into a single afternoon. The company now operates a live stablecoin with $5.1 billion in circulation, a decentralized lending platform, a new partnership with a firm servicing $3.5 trillion in assets, and a tokenized real estate deal structured under US securities law. Whether the political scrutiny around the Trump family's involvement slows any of that down remains to be seen, but the roster of Wall Street names willing to sit in that Mar-a-Lago ballroom suggests that, for now, the institutional interest is real.

Resources

1. Report by New York Post: Trump crypto business unveils deals at Mar-a-Lago summit with Wall Street titans and Nicki Minaj

2. Report by CoinDesk: Trump-linked World Liberty taps BlackRock-backed Securitize for hotel tokenization

3. Report by Bloomberg: Trump-Linked World Liberty Targets Real Estate as Crypto Slides

4. Report by Reuters: Goldman, Nasdaq CEOs to headline Mar-a-Lago crypto ‘forum’ hosted by Don Jr. and Eric Trump

5. Report by Barron’s: Stalled Bill Hangs Over Mar-a-Lago Crypto Conference. It Matters for Coinbase.

6. Press release by World LibertyFi: World Liberty Financial Announces Strategic Collaboration with $3.5 Trillion Financial Solutions Provider Apex Group

7. Report by WSJ: ‘Spy Sheikh’ Bought Secret Stake in Trump Company