Trump's UFC Stablecoin Bonus Lands on White House Lawn While Congress Circles the Octagon 🥊

World Liberty Financial, the crypto venture co-founded by President Trump in 2024, paid $250,000 in its USD1 stablecoin to UFC fighters as part of the Performance of the Night bonus pool at UFC Freedom 250 on the White House South Lawn on June 14. The WLFI contribution raised each Performance of the Night payout to $425,000, while Crypto.com separately backed Fight of the Night bonuses of $400,000 each. Fourteen fighters competed for roughly $1.65 million in bonuses, described as a record for a UFC card, with the Performance of the Night winners receiving their awards in USD1 on-site.

USD1 is a dollar-pegged token backed by reserves in US Treasuries and cash equivalents, launched in March 2025 and now operating across Ethereum, BNB Chain, Tron, and Solana. Since launch, the token's market capitalization has grown to more than $5 billion, according to the company.

The White House showcase came as the House of Representatives opened a formal probe into WLFI's ownership structure. A UAE firm linked to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE's national security adviser and brother of the UAE president, acquired a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial for a reported $500 million. A separate Tahnoon-linked firm later used USD1 to settle a $2 billion investment in Binance. The House inquiry is focused on potential conflicts of interest and national security risks tied to a foreign state official's near-half ownership of a sitting US president's crypto company, and the implications of that company's stablecoin now exceeding a $5 billion market cap.

World Liberty Financial served as the presenting sponsor of UFC Freedom 250, staging the octagon on the South Lawn for the event. The House probe, already underway when the bonuses were paid, is formally committed to determining who else profits when USD1 payments settle.