USD1

What it is

USD1 is a US dollar stablecoin, a token designed to hold a value of exactly one dollar, issued for World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture launched in 2024. It arrived in 2025 and grew faster than almost any stablecoin before it, reaching roughly $3 billion in circulation within six months of launch, according to the company’s own documentation. The memorable fact is its ownership: an entity affiliated with the family of the sitting US president holds a large stake in the business behind it, a first for a major financial token.

How it works

The mechanics are the standard fiat-backed model. Each USD1 is redeemable one for one for dollars, and the company states the token is 100 per cent backed by a reserve of short-term US government Treasuries, US government money market funds, dollar deposits and other cash equivalents. Those reserves are held by BitGo Trust Company, a South Dakota-chartered trust company, with issuance handled through BitGo’s regulated infrastructure, per World Liberty Financial’s documentation. The company publishes monthly reserve reports examined by an independent third-party firm. USD1 runs on several blockchains, including Ethereum and BNB Chain.

The story so far

World Liberty Financial launched in late 2024 selling its WLFI governance token, and introduced USD1 in the spring of 2025. The political dimension is documented in the company’s own regulatory filings. Its MiCA white paper, published for European compliance, states that DT Marks DEFI LLC, an entity affiliated with Donald J. Trump and certain family members, owns approximately 38 per cent of WLF Holdco LLC, the parent of World Liberty Financial LLC, and that the affiliated parties hold billions of WLFI tokens. The same filing states that neither Mr Trump nor his family members serve as officers, directors or employees of the WLF entities. That structure, a stablecoin business part-owned by the family of a serving president while Washington writes stablecoin law, has drawn sustained scrutiny from US lawmakers, and readers should weigh the token on the published reserves rather than the promotion around it.

Where it stands

As of late July 2026, CoinGecko ranks USD1 24th among crypto assets, with about $4.2 billion in circulation trading at approximately $1.00. What to watch next: the depth and regularity of its reserve examinations compared with the full audits older rivals now offer, how it is treated under the GENIUS Act, the US stablecoin law signed in July 2025, and whether adoption extends beyond the exchanges and trading venues that drove its first year. A stablecoin’s product is trust, and USD1’s unusual ownership means it will keep being examined more closely than most. On the evidence published so far, the peg has held.