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Trump-linked stablecoin USD1 adds $427 million in a single week. USD1 now sits at $4.85 billion in circulation, split across Ethereum, BNB Chain and Solana, making it the fourth-largest dollar stablecoin behind only USDT, USDC and Sky's USDS. Critics in Congress have flagged conflict-of-interest concerns tied to the Trump family's involvement. A dollar stablecoin tied to the sitting president's family just jumped past PayPal's and is closing in on the world's third-biggest. Nobody saw that growth rate coming this fast. USD1, the dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial, grew 9.7% in the past seven days, adding roughly $427 million to reach $4.85 billion in circulation, according to a report from The Defiant. That makes it the fourth-largest dollar stablecoin on the market, trailing only Tether's USDT, Circle's USDC and Sky's USDS. World Liberty Financial is the crypto venture launched in 2024 by Donald Trump's sons and business associates, with the president himself publicly tied to the project. USD1 isn't a side product. It's the company's main bet, and right now that bet is paying off faster than almost anything else in the stablecoin market. Supply doesn't sit in one place. Ethereum carries $1.99 billion of USD1, about 41% of the total, according to The Defiant's breakdown. BNB Chain holds $1.80 billion, or 37%, and Solana accounts for $1.02 billion, roughly 21%. That spread across three major chains is itself a signal: USD1 isn't riding one ecosystem's trading volume, it's getting pulled into liquidity pools and trading pairs across several networks at once. A 9.7% weekly jump is not organic retail demand for a dollar token. Stablecoins grow that fast for one of two reasons: a major exchange or trading desk decides to mint a large batch for market-making, or a protocol incentivizes liquidity providers to hold it. Either way, someone with real capital made a deliberate decision to park nearly half a billion dollars into a token controlled by a company whose equity and governance token are tied directly to the Trump family's business interests. Allegations of market manipulation tied to Trump-family crypto ventures are drawing intense Reddit engagement, with on-chain data showing high insider token concentration and promotional dynamics that existing regulatory frameworks were not built to police. The situation is becoming a structural test case for whether political access can function... - how to regulate political memecoins and insider trading - Trump crypto market manipulation and SEC enforcement tools That's the part that makes USD1 different from every other stablecoin racing up the rankings. Sky's USDS, the fifth-place token, is Tether and USDC's growth has nothing to do with American political power. World Liberty Financial's does, and the ethics scrutiny around that has followed the project since launch, with critics in Congress flagging the conflict-of-interest questions raised by a sitting president's family running a financial product that foreign governments and institutions can use to curry favor. World Liberty Financial has brushed off that criticism before. The company has said USD1's reserves sit in short-term U.S. Treasuries, dollar deposits and other cash equivalents, with custody handled by BitGo Trust. That's a conventional structure, no different from how Circle backs USDC. The unconventional part is who's collecting the float income on $4.85 billion in reserves. The stablecoin market USD1 is climbing into. The overall stablecoin market sits above $300 billion, and Tether and USDC alone still account for the overwhelming majority of it. USD1 crossing $4.8 billion doesn't threaten that duopoly yet. But it does mean World Liberty Financial has built, in under two years, a stablecoin bigger than long-established competitors like PayPal's PYUSD, something most new entrants never manage. Frankly, the speed is the story here, not the size. A lot of stablecoins launch with hype and then stall once the initial liquidity incentives dry up. USD1 keeps adding hundreds of millions in a single week, long after its March debut. That kind of sustained inflow usually means it's being integrated into exchange trading pairs and DeFi protocols as working capital, not just held as a speculative bet on the Trump brand. Whether regulators or Congress move to scrutinize that growth is a separate question from whether the token works as designed. Right now it is working exactly as designed, and it's growing faster than almost anything else in its category. ALT5 Sigma, the Nasdaq company chaired by World Liberty Financial's Zach Witkoff with Eric Trump on its board, moved $99.7 million in WLFI tokens this week while sitting on an $853 million unrealized loss. The company has borrowed $15 million from World Liberty Financial itself to stay afloat, even as it flagged going-concern doubts to the SEC. - AI Financial token holdings decline rapidly - Trump crypto bet balance sheet stress Join the discussion. No replies yet. Start the discussion. Walter Schulze brings all the breaking news stories in the tech and startup world and to ensure that Startup Fortune offers a timely reporting on the trends happen in the industry. He now works on a part time basis for Startup Fortune specializing in covering tech and startup news and he also sheds light on investment opportunities and trends.

Seven major S&P 500 companies with market capitalizations exceeding $20 billion need to rally at least 200% to reach their previous all-time highs, according to Bespoke. The struggling firms include PG&E, PayPal, Ford, Nike, Las Vegas Sands, Zoetis, and Crown Castle. Nike has experienced particularly poor performance, with the company's stock trading at record lows and its dividend yield approaching 5%. Recent quarterly results showed Nike Brand sales fell 4%, online sales dropped 13%, Converse sales declined 28%, and China sales crashed 26%. CEO Elliott Hill indicated that weakness in the sportswear market would persist. PayPal faces intense competition in the payments sector. New CEO Enrique Lores reportedly declined a buyout offer from Stripe and will focus on cost reductions and improving customer experience.

PayPal shares trade 83% below their July 2021 peak of $305.13, despite total payment volume rising 56% and revenue growing 40% since Q2 2021. The company's branded checkout solution, its most lucrative segment, has stalled with just 2% growth in recent quarters. Analysts attribute PayPal's struggles to intensifying competition, particularly from Apple Pay, and potential weakness amongst economically sensitive users. The company rejected a $53 billion takeover offer from Stripe and Advent International in July, priced at $60.50 per share. Despite maintaining profitability and aggressively repurchasing shares with free cash flow, PayPal faces uncertain prospects. Trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.2, the stock presents value characteristics, though recovery to its previous high appears unlikely without significant improvement in its branded checkout performance.