World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a company affiliated with the family of the U.S. president, has found itself at the center of a new conflict of interest. It has emerged that the project is collaborating with the Hong Kong-based service WorldClaw, which provides access to models from Chinese AI developers that the Trump administration has placed on lists of national security threats. This discovery calls into question the consistency of the White House's policy regarding technological confrontation with Beijing.
My analysis shows that the scale of the collaboration is significant: 43 of the 90 models available on the WorldClaw platform were created by Alibaba, Baidu, Z.ai, and other Chinese companies. At the same time, the service also offers American solutions, including products from OpenAI and Anthropic. Payments are accepted in the USD1 stablecoin and other World Liberty tokens, with the Trump family holding 38% of the project and earning income from the turnover of these digital assets.
Partnership details and positions of the parties
WorldClaw, launched in 2026, insists on its independence, claiming it is not controlled by World Liberty. However, Ryan Fang, head of growth at WLFI, has served as an advisor to the service on USD1 integration and international expansion. The president's elder sons actively promoted the platform, and Donald Trump Jr. even promised to meet with winners of the WorldClaw competition at Mar-a-Lago.
The situation is made particularly acute by the fact that the Pentagon has placed Alibaba and Baidu on the list of companies linked to the Chinese military, while Z.ai (formerly Zhipu AI) has been added to the U.S. Commerce Department's Entity List. At the same time, the use of Chinese AI solutions in the U.S. is generally legal, and they are cheaper than American counterparts. White House representatives deny any conflict of interest, while WorldClaw emphasizes that hosting a model is not a sign of endorsement of its developer.
Regulatory risks and banking ambitions
In parallel with this scandal, the OCC has given preliminary approval for the creation of the national trust bank World Liberty Trust Company. This decision has already drawn sharp criticism: Senator Elizabeth Warren called it "the most brazen case of self-enrichment in the history of the American financial system." Lawmakers have announced a bill that would prohibit regulators from approving banking licenses for entities owned by the president and his family.
Experts interviewed during the investigation note the hypocrisy of the situation: the administration is trying to limit the influence of Chinese AI, while the president's family simultaneously profits from access to these technologies. However, there is another interpretation: Trump's second term is characterized by a priority on business interests, and the collaboration fits perfectly into that logic. Yet the risks for users of Chinese models—from censorship to potential surveillance—remain a serious cause for concern.
My verdict: This partnership is a striking example of how the crypto industry is becoming an arena for geopolitical contradictions. Investors should closely monitor developments: any regulatory blow to WLFI could cause significant volatility in the project's tokens, and the precedent itself creates a dangerous precedent for the entire industry.