World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency project endorsed by Donald Trump, has seen a significant turnaround in its fortunes following the involvement of Justin Sun, a Chinese-born crypto billionaire. Sun's purchase of $30 million in WLFI tokens, and his subsequent advisory role, have been pivotal to the project's early success, according to co-founder Zak Folkman.

During CoinDesk's Consensus Hong Kong conference, Folkman highlighted the project's ambition to bridge traditional financial institutions with decentralized finance. Initially, the Trump-endorsed WLFI struggled to meet its $30 million fundraising goal and faced restrictions in trading, being available only to non-U.S. investors and accredited U.S. investors.

The project's trajectory shifted when Sun invested in the WLFI token. His support was acknowledged by Folkman as a "monumental move forward for the entire crypto community." Since Trump's announcement of World Liberty Financial in October, the company has aimed to develop a lending platform based on Aave, an Ethereum-based decentralized finance protocol.

Although the platform has not yet launched, World Liberty is now working on a variety of products and applications, not just a single tool. The governance token WLFI was released shortly after the project's introduction and has become a focal point for the company.

Folkman recounted the challenges faced during the launch, citing scrutiny due to the high-profile individuals involved. However, after Sun's significant investment, World Liberty surpassed its initial fundraising target and set a new, ambitious goal. Achieving this goal would rank WLFI as the fourth-largest initial coin offering (ICO) in history.

Folkman emphasized that WLFI's success was achieved without venture capital backing and without preferential treatment for token purchasers. Despite this, Sun's investment led to his elevation as an official investor in World Liberty. Additionally, the company purchased $10 million worth of TRX tokens, the native token of Sun's TRON blockchain, and WBTC , a bitcoin derivative linked to Sun.

In early February, reports emerged that World Liberty was offering deals to crypto teams, proposing the addition of a company's tokens to its portfolio in exchange for purchasing WLFI tokens and an extra fee. Folkman addressed these reports, clarifying that the individual proposing these deals was not affiliated with World Liberty Financial.