UFC to pay White House fighters in crypto issued by Trump company

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) announced on Friday that it will pay bonuses to fighters in a form of cryptocurrency issued by Trump family business World Liberty Financial at the heavily publicized White House mixed martial arts event on Sunday.The development connects the Trump family’s financial interests to the high-profile UFC competition being promoted on government property. The competition on the south White House lawn is scheduled for 14 June, Donald Trump’s birthday.The UFC said some fighters will receive bonuses in World Liberty Financial crypto called “stablecoins”, whose value is pegged to the US dollar. World Liberty named the currency “USD1”.World Liberty is a venture of the Trump family and the family of Steven Witkoff, Trump’s friend and special envoy to the Middle East. The company is now listed as an “official sponsor” of UFC Freedom 250, the fight scheduled for Sunday. The use of its stablecoin in the fight would appear to boost efforts to have it used more more broadly.White House spokesman Davis Ingle said there is no conflict of interest and that Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children. “The Fake News’ continued attempts to fabricate conflicts of interest are irresponsible and reinforce the public’s distrust in what they read.”The fight is not linked to America250, a separate organization promoting the 250th anniversary of the country.World Liberty Financial, a Delaware-based cryptocurrency venture co-founded by Donald Trump and his sons in 2024 alongside the Witkoff sons , has emerged as one of the highest-profile businesses connected to the president’s family.At one point, Trump Sr was publicly listed by the company as its “Chief Crypto Advocate”.His financial disclosure form lists his holdings in World Liberty Financial as “over $50m ”.Reuters reported this month that the Trump family’s crypto ventures, led by WLF, have generated billions of dollars in paper gains and become one of the largest sources of wealth tied to the president and his family.World Liberty announced the company was creating a “bonus pool” for the event the company and quoted Zach Witkoff, Steve Witkoff’s son and CEO of World Liberty Financial. “We believe this is the future of finance, and we’re excited to partner with UFC,” he said, “which has done more than any organization to modernize the business of sports”.World Liberty was dogged by controversies surrounding its digital “governance token”, a type of crypto it sold, and is in litigation with Justin Sun, the crypto tycoon who was an early buyer of the tokens. He sued the company this year alleging it improperly froze his tokens, and World Liberty sued him for defamation.The USD1 stablecoins are separate from the tokens and are tradable digital assets that are backed by dollar reserves. The firm has also applied for a banking license from the Office of Comptroller of the Currency.World Liberty Financial’s role in the festivities emerged only this week. The company first announced it was an official sponsor of the event on Wednesday 10 June via x.com. The next day, on Thursday, the UFC announced it was distributing bonuses to fighters in a separate cryptocurrency called CRO. Then on Friday at 9.30pm, the UFC issued a press release to say World Liberty Financial would be the “Presenting Partner of a new $250,000 Performance of the Night bonus pool”. The UFC revealed it was to make those payments in USD1.“This sounds like advertising,” Todd Phillips, an expert in crypto at the Klaros Group, told the Guardian. He said “Paying the fighters in the USD1 stablecoin would have the same economic function as writing them a check but announcing to the world they are doing it in USD1 sounds like they are adverting to the world that USD1 is out there and that it is connected to the UFC and the White House.