Today's Edition
A. SREENIVASA REDDY (ABU DHABI)
A UAE-based Web3 fund, Aqua 1 Foundation, has announced a $100 million investment in World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a decentralised finance (DeFi) platform linked to US President Donald Trump. The investment will be made through the purchase of WLFI’s governance tokens.
The move was disclosed in a joint statement issued by both entities, which was shared as a press release by Reuters.
The joint statement emphasised their shared ambition to accelerate the global shift from traditional finance to decentralised models. The governance tokens will allow Aqua 1 to participate in shaping WLFI’s operational and strategic decisions, although they do not represent ownership or entitle holders to a share in the project’s revenues.
WLFI seeks to transform the fintech sector through blockchain technology, enabling access to financial services via digital tokens without intermediaries such as banks.
“We’re excited to work hand-in-hand with the team at Aqua 1,” said Zak Folkman, co-founder of WLFI. “Aligning with Aqua 1 validates our blueprint for global financial innovation, as we have a joint mission to bring digital assets to the masses and strengthen our nation’s standing as a champion and leader of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.”
The collaboration comes at a time of growing institutional interest in DeFi. Aqua 1’s investment will also support WLFI’s USD1 ecosystem — a suite of payment and treasury management tools aimed at broadening blockchain adoption among businesses.
"WLFI’s USD1 ecosystem and RWA pipeline embody the trillion-dollar structural pivot opportunity we seek to catalyse," said Dave Lee, founding partner of Aqua 1. “We want to be at the heart of this transformation where traditional capital markets merge with decentralised financial primitives.”
Looking ahead, the two organisations plan to co-develop BlockRock, an institutional platform for real-world asset (RWA) tokenisation, and support the launch of Aqua Fund, a UAE-domiciled investment vehicle. The fund will focus on blockchain infrastructure, artificial intelligence integration, and global Web3 adoption, with plans to be listed on a secondary trading platform within Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM).
WLFI has already raised hundreds of millions of dollars through the sale of governance tokens. International agencies have reported several recent high-value purchases by funds and high-net-worth individuals. In April, Abu Dhabi-based DWF Labs acquired $25 million worth of WLFI governance tokens, while Chinese-born crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun is reported to have spent $75 million on them.
