World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the crypto venture linked to the Trump family, has announced plans to enter the foreign exchange market. Co-founder Zak Folkman revealed the initiative called World Swap during a presentation at Consensus Hong Kong on February 12, describing it as a forex and remittance platform built on blockchain infrastructure that aims to reduce cross-border transfer costs.
The move would position WLFI as a competitor to traditional remittance providers within one of the world’s largest financial markets.
WLFI just filed for a trademark titled “World Swap”
This has to be big. Haven’t seen any info on this anywhere.
Its registered under the same owner as the WLFI, Defiant and other products of the World Liberty Financial ecosystem.
Check for yourself here:… pic.twitter.com/UrplnToI0B
— CoreToken (@coretokenIO) January 22, 2026
How World Swap Would Work
According to Folkman, World Swap will operate within WLFI’s USD1 stablecoin ecosystem to facilitate cross-border money transfers. Traditional remittance services typically charge fees ranging from 2% to 10% per transaction. Folkman said World Swap would settle transfers at “a fraction of” those costs by using blockchain-based settlement rails rather than correspondent banking networks.
The company says the interface will resemble mainstream payment apps, allowing users to connect bank accounts and debit cards without needing to manage crypto wallets directly. No specific fee structure or supported currency pairs have been disclosed yet.
The Forex Market Opportunity
Folkman framed the platform as targeting the global foreign exchange market, which he described as a multi-trillion-dollar industry burdened by high intermediary fees. For context, global FX turnover reached $9.6 trillion per day in April 2025, according to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Triennial Survey an all-time high and a 28.5% increase from 2022.
Whether a stablecoin-based challenger can meaningfully capture volume in a market dominated by institutional participants and established infrastructure remains an open question.
USD1 Stablecoin: Current Standing
World Swap would be anchored to USD1, WLFI’s dollar-pegged stablecoin. According to WLFI, USD1 is backed by U.S. Treasury bills, cash deposits, and government money market funds, with reserves held and custodied by BitGo Trust Company. BitGo publishes monthly reserve attestation reports examined by an independent accounting firm under AICPA standards.
However, a report by NYDIG in October 2025 noted that USD1’s attestation reports had fallen behind schedule, with the latest available report at that time dating back to July 2025. NYDIG also flagged that approximately 78% of USD1’s supply was held in wallets associated with foreign exchanges.
As of mid-February 2026, USD1 held a market capitalization of approximately $5.32 billion and ranked #19 on CoinMarketCap. Separately, CoinGecko listed its market cap at approximately $2.2 billion, reflecting differences in methodology across data providers.
Trademark Filings Signal Preparation
Trademark applications for both World Swap and WLF World Swap were filed in January 2026 with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) by AMG Software Solutions LLC, a Puerto Rico-based entity that manages WLFI’s intellectual property portfolio. AMG Software Solutions has been associated with WLFI’s brand registrations since the project’s inception in 2024.
Early Lending Platform Metrics
The forex platform builds on WLFI’s recently launched lending arm, World Liberty Markets. According to Folkman, the lending platform attracted over $320 million in lending activity and more than $200 million in borrowing within its first four weeks of operation. It has not been clarified whether these figures represent cumulative volume, total value locked (TVL), or outstanding balances.
Political Scrutiny Intensifies
The announcement arrives amid heightened political scrutiny of WLFI. In late January 2026, The Wall Street Journal reported that Aryam Investment 1, an Abu Dhabi-based vehicle backed by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan the UAE’s national security adviser acquired a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial for $500 million just days before President Trump’s January 2025 inauguration.
In response, Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA), ranking member of the House Select Committee on China, launched a formal investigation on February 5, 2026. In a letter to WLFI CEO Zach Witkoff, Khanna raised concerns that the investment may have influenced U.S. export-control policy related to AI chips, and requested documentation and responses to 16 questions by a March 1 deadline.
Trump has stated he was not involved in the transaction, saying, “My sons are handling that. My family is managing it”.
What’s Next: Mar-a-Lago Forum
Folkman indicated that additional details on World Swap including operational specifics will be shared at the World Liberty Forum on February 18, 2026, at Mar-a-Lago. The invitation-only event is expected to host roughly 300 global leaders, with confirmed speakers including Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson, Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman, and CFTC Chairman Michael Selig.
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