Trump family crypto business announces $1.5 billion treasury company for World Liberty token
The move represents an effort by the Trump family to capitalize on a recent trend of using either small publicly traded or blank-check companies to let a broader swath of traders gain exposure to cryptocurrencies.
The strategy was first popularized by Michael Saylor, who renamed his decades-old software company MicroStrategy to Strategy as he transformed it into a Bitcoin behemoth. He and company executives began adding billions of dollars in Bitcoin to the balance sheet for the firm, which prompted traders to see the company's stock as a proxy for the world's largest cryptocurrency. Strategy's market capitalization soon soared along with Bitcoin's rise.
Now, a flood of other copycats have entered the market. In addition to Bitcoin, there are treasury companies for cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, Sui, Ethena, and now WLFI. All pitch their companies' stock as a proxy for the cryptocurrencies they hold and a way for traditional investors to gain exposure to crypto.
'One small step for mankind, one giant leap for WLFI,' said the X account for World Liberty Financial, announcing the raise.
Zach Witkoff, CEO of World Liberty and son of President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, will become chairman of the board of directors at ALT5 Sigma. Eric Trump, son of the president and cofounder of World Liberty, will also join the board, and Zak Folkman, the crypto company's COO, will become a board observer.
World Liberty was the lead investor in the raise. Other investors weren't disclosed. A spokesperson for World Liberty Financial declined to comment.
World Liberty Financial's move into the public markets is the Trump family's latest expansion of its crypto empire. President Trump and first lady Melania Trump have their own memecoins. Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. have not only backed World Liberty but also spun up their own Bitcoin mining firm.
And Trump Media & Technology Group, the publicly traded company that encompasses Trump's social media site, Truth Social, has also recently pivoted to crypto and added $2 billion in Bitcoin to its balance sheet.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
22 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Green Hydrogen Production Group Closes on Major Investment
A California-based hydrogen production group said it has completed a funding round in support of the company's first 100-kilotonne carbon dioxide removal (CDR) commercial facility. Equatic, which is considered a pioneering company in combined carbon dioxide removal and green hydrogen production, on August 11 announced the successful closure of its Series A round, with Catalytic Capital for Climate and Health (C3H) leading an $11.6-million investment. C3H is a catalytic vehicle by Temasek Trust, along with Kibo Invest, a Singapore-based private investment office with a focus on climate technology. The funding round, with participation from a consortium of global investors, will accelerate the engineering scale-up and commercialization of Equatic's patented seawater electrolysis technology. This substantial capital infusion will support the ongoing engineering of Equatic's CDR commercial facility, alongside further commercialization, manufacturing, and technological development. Equatic's proprietary technology is designed to capture atmospheric carbon dioxide and produce green hydrogen in a single, scalable process, advancing two critical net-zero pathways. 'This investment marks a pivotal moment for Equatic, enabling us to significantly scale our production capabilities and accelerate our mission to deliver durable carbon removal at scale,' said Gaurav N. Sant, founder and chief technology officer for Equatic. 'The Temasek Trust ecosystem has been a foundational partner to Equatic, from early-stage philanthropic backing from Temasek Foundation to catalytic investment through C3H. We welcome Kibo Invest as co-lead and recognize their commitment to invest in companies that are revolutionizing industries and addressing urgent climate challenges.' 'Truly innovative carbon management technologies are needed to mitigate climate change before the consequences become irreversible,' said Lord John Browne, chairman of Equatic's advisory board. Browne also is founder and chairman at BeyondNetZero, and the former CEO of British Petroleum. 'By removing carbon dioxide and simultaneously generating green hydrogen, Equatic's solution provides unique advantages in terms of cost and scalability.' Ryan Tan, head of C3H, said, 'Equatic's technology and approach exemplify the type of bold and scalable innovation that aligns with C3H's mandate. We are delighted to support Equatic's goal in advancing promising climate mitigation solutions that offer permanent, durable carbon removal with green hydrogen production for scalable, tangible impact and commercial benefit.' 'Equatic represents an exciting opportunity to scale deep-tech innovation that addresses two critical needs: decarbonisation and clean energy. As an investor focused on climate solutions, we are proud to partner with C3H and Equatic to help bring this breakthrough technology to commercial scale,' said James Marshall, CEO of Kibo Invest. Equatic's Technology Since commencing operations in 2023, the Equatic technology has been successfully deployed at two pilot plants in Los Angeles and Singapore. The company is now expanding its operations with a demonstration plant in Singapore, known as Equatic-1, and a commercial-scale plant in Canada. In May 2024, Equatic was recognized as a CDR Purchase Prize semifinalist by the U.S. Department of Energy, acknowledging its high-quality, permanent carbon credits and rigorous Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) practices. In September 2024, Equatic announced a significant climate breakthrough with the U.S. manufacture of oxygen-selective anodes, which unlock scalable hydrogen production through direct seawater electrolysis. That same month, Equatic was named a finalist for The Earthshot Prize, a prestigious international recognition for groundbreaking solutions to repair the planet. Equatic's commitment to high-integrity carbon removal is underscored by its adoption of an ISO-14064 standard for MRV, first published by Equatic in May 2023. Subsequently, this standard was validated by two leading carbon removal registries, Isometric and making Equatic one of the only marine companies capable of issuing high-quality CDR credits under either registry, with full transparency and auditability. Buyers of Equatic's CDR credits include Boeing, a leading global aerospace company and other large industrial companies committed to market-based mechanisms for decarbonization. —POWER edited this content, which was contained in a press release from Equatic.
Yahoo
22 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Unifor condemns federal government's attack on CUPE flight attendants' right to strike and fair and free collective bargaining
TORONTO, Aug. 16, 2025 /CNW/ - Unifor strongly condemns the federal government's imposition of binding arbitration between Air Canada and CUPE Flight Attendants, cutting short a legal strike action just hours after it began. "This move by the federal government sends a clear message to federally regulated employers: don't bother bargaining fairly with workers because the government will step in to strip away your right to strike," said Unifor National President Lana Payne. "Our message is equally clear – Unifor will always defend workers' right to strike and any government or company that tries to rip that away is in for one hell of a fight." On the first day of the strike, Minister of Jobs and Families Patty Hajdu invoked Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code, directing the Canada Industrial Relations Board to arbitrate the dispute. "The government is condoning Air Canada's refusal to bargain fairly while blocking workers' legitimate fight against unpaid work. Workers have constitutional rights in this country, and we expect our own governments to uphold them," said Payne. "My message to these same federal employers, many of whom Unifor also bargains with, is to consider hard on what you are sowing, because here's the truth: suppressing the rights of workers will never bring you labour peace." Unifor stands shoulder-to-shoulder with CUPE flight attendants, having issued a solidarity letter earlier this week and pledging ongoing support in the fight for justice and respect on the job. Unifor is Canada's largest union in the private sector, representing 320,000 workers in every major area of the economy. The union advocates for all working people and their rights, fights for equality and social justice in Canada and abroad, and strives to create progressive change for a better future. SOURCE Unifor View original content to download multimedia: Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
22 minutes ago
- Yahoo
An Intrinsic Calculation For Mainfreight Limited (NZSE:MFT) Suggests It's 21% Undervalued
Explore Mainfreight's Fair Values from the Community and select yours Key Insights Mainfreight's estimated fair value is NZ$75.24 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity Current share price of NZ$59.57 suggests Mainfreight is potentially 21% undervalued The NZ$72.61 analyst price target for MFT is 3.5% less than our estimate of fair value Today we'll do a simple run through of a valuation method used to estimate the attractiveness of Mainfreight Limited (NZSE:MFT) as an investment opportunity by estimating the company's future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. The Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model is the tool we will apply to do this. There's really not all that much to it, even though it might appear quite complex. Remember though, that there are many ways to estimate a company's value, and a DCF is just one method. For those who are keen learners of equity analysis, the Simply Wall St analysis model here may be something of interest to you. AI is about to change healthcare. These 20 stocks are working on everything from early diagnostics to drug discovery. The best part - they are all under $10bn in marketcap - there is still time to get in early. Crunching The Numbers We are going to use a two-stage DCF model, which, as the name states, takes into account two stages of growth. The first stage is generally a higher growth period which levels off heading towards the terminal value, captured in the second 'steady growth' period. To begin with, we have to get estimates of the next ten years of cash flows. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years. Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, so we discount the value of these future cash flows to their estimated value in today's dollars: 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 2034 2035 Levered FCF (NZ$, Millions) NZ$174.2m NZ$189.5m NZ$240.1m NZ$294.6m NZ$335.5m NZ$367.1m NZ$395.2m NZ$420.6m NZ$443.9m NZ$465.9m Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x2 Analyst x2 Analyst x2 Analyst x1 Analyst x1 Est @ 9.42% Est @ 7.66% Est @ 6.42% Est @ 5.55% Est @ 4.95% Present Value (NZ$, Millions) Discounted @ 7.7% NZ$162 NZ$163 NZ$192 NZ$219 NZ$231 NZ$235 NZ$235 NZ$232 NZ$227 NZ$221 ("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = NZ$2.1b After calculating the present value of future cash flows in the initial 10-year period, we need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all future cash flows beyond the first stage. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a country's GDP growth. In this case we have used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (3.5%) to estimate future growth. In the same way as with the 10-year 'growth' period, we discount future cash flows to today's value, using a cost of equity of 7.7%. Terminal Value (TV)= FCF2035 × (1 + g) ÷ (r – g) = NZ$466m× (1 + 3.5%) ÷ (7.7%– 3.5%) = NZ$11b Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= NZ$11b÷ ( 1 + 7.7%)10= NZ$5.5b The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is NZ$7.6b. The last step is to then divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of NZ$59.6, the company appears a touch undervalued at a 21% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Valuations are imprecise instruments though, rather like a telescope - move a few degrees and end up in a different galaxy. Do keep this in mind. Important Assumptions The calculation above is very dependent on two assumptions. The first is the discount rate and the other is the cash flows. You don't have to agree with these inputs, I recommend redoing the calculations yourself and playing with them. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Mainfreight as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 7.7%, which is based on a levered beta of 0.997. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business. See our latest analysis for Mainfreight SWOT Analysis for Mainfreight Strength Earnings growth over the past year exceeded the industry. Debt is not viewed as a risk. Dividends are covered by earnings and cash flows. Weakness Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Logistics market. Opportunity Annual revenue is forecast to grow faster than the New Zealander market. Good value based on P/E ratio and estimated fair value. Significant insider buying over the past 3 months. Threat Annual earnings are forecast to grow slower than the New Zealander market. Moving On: Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it ideally won't be the sole piece of analysis you scrutinize for a company. DCF models are not the be-all and end-all of investment valuation. Instead the best use for a DCF model is to test certain assumptions and theories to see if they would lead to the company being undervalued or overvalued. For example, changes in the company's cost of equity or the risk free rate can significantly impact the valuation. Why is the intrinsic value higher than the current share price? For Mainfreight, there are three further items you should further research: Financial Health: Does MFT have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at our free balance sheet analysis with six simple checks on key factors like leverage and risk. Future Earnings: How does MFT's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other High Quality Alternatives: Do you like a good all-rounder? Explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing! PS. The Simply Wall St app conducts a discounted cash flow valuation for every stock on the NZSE every day. If you want to find the calculation for other stocks just search here. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
