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The digital assets venture promoted by Donald Trump has hit the target of raising $1bn through token sales and is offering more to the public, as it capitalizes on the enthusiasm for cryptocurrencies backed by the incoming US president.

World Liberty Financial, a project BACKING by Trump and his three sons, said on Monday that it sold 21bn tokens, surpassing its goal of launching in October to sell 20bn, or $1bn worth.

WLF, which was founded in the run-up to the election by long-time business associates of Trump and others, added that it will also issue an additional 5bn tokens to the 100bn total supply “due to high demand and high interest “.

The surge in demand for WLF tokens marks a sharp contrast to the patchy sales it has experienced in the opening months since launch, and comes as the Trump family has stepped up its foray into cryptocurrencies ahead of the his swearing-in ceremony.

Over the weekend Donald Trump and his wife Melania launched memecoinswhich increased in value, while Eric Trump, an ardent supporter of the WLF, attended a crypto industry gala event in Washington to celebrate his father’s inauguration.

Trump eagerly courted the crypto industry on the election trail and executives in turn warmed to him, believing he would end the regulatory stifling they faced under the Biden administration.

The WLF has not yet laid out its plans. The coins give holders only limited voting rights and no economic rights, and cannot be sold or traded back to WLF.

Justin Sun, the crypto entrepreneur who bought and ate $6mn worth of bananas artwork in November, said last week that he had invested an additional $45mn in the WLF. The purchase of Sun, which was sued by the US securities regulator for fraud and other securities law violations, took its total investment to $75m.

Trump has already appointed several crypto-friendly names to top jobs, including Paul Atkins as head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and venture capitalist David Sacks to the new role of AI and crypto tsar.

In return, crypto companies and billionaires have provided financial support to Trump, with stablecoin operator Circle and blockchain payments group Ripple among the companies paying for the inauguration committee. Bitcoin briefly hit a new record high above $109,000 on Monday, before dropping, on expectations that Trump will issue executive orders in the coming days that will boost fortunes. in the US industry.

However, many of the biggest names in the crypto market are concerned that Trump’s move on digital assets could be seen as seeking to value of acquisition from supporters. The company behind the Trump memecoin is affiliated with the Trump Organization, and will receive a share of the trading revenues associated with the token.

“Basically, we have an informal rule that presidents don’t start or run businesses that could cause a conflict of interest,” Nic Carter, a venture capitalist at Castle Island Ventures, told X.

The Donald Trump memecoin fell to $52 on Monday, from a weekend high of $75. The Melania Trump memecoin, whose launch caused the Donald coin to briefly drop 40 percent in value, is at $8.43, compared to Sunday’s high of $13.64.

Memecoins have no business model, cash flow or fundamental value, and do not give their owners a share of any physical assets, and rely on their popularity among traders for their value.

“A new turbulent era in crypto is here,” Bernstein analysts wrote in a note, adding that Trump’s memecoin launch was “a major paradigm shift” that ” ushers in a new era of regulation, where governments see crypto as a technology to reach the masses directly.”