Large cryptocurrency investors, often referred to as whales, are reportedly experiencing substantial losses after speculating on the price increase of the World Liberty Financial (WLFI) token, a digital asset associated with the Trump family.
Since its initial launch on Monday, the WLFI token has seen its value decrease by more than 40%. This downturn occurred despite a significant token burn event. This event permanently eliminated a large portion of the tokens in circulation, with the intention of reducing supply and subsequently driving up the price of the remaining tokens.
Despite this considerable price drop exceeding 40%, some investors who participated in the pre-sale of the token are apparently maintaining their optimism regarding this token that has received presidential endorsement.
According to blockchain data analysis platform Bubblemaps, in a Wednesday post on X, around 60% of the over 85,000 participants in the pre-sale are still holding onto their tokens. In contrast, only about 29% have liquidated their entire holdings.
Trump-Linked WLFI Token Plummets 40% Despite Token Burn: Whales Face Million-Dollar Losses
Major cryptocurrency investors (“whales”) are incurring multi-million dollar losses on the World Liberty Financial (WLFI) token, an asset connected to the Trump family. The token’s value continues to erode despite attempts to curb the circulating supply.
Data from Onchain Lens reveals that a whale wallet, identified as 0x432, sustained losses exceeding $1.6 million after exiting a WLFI long position with 3x leverage.
In a Thursday post on X, Onchain Lens cautioned against “FOMO” (fear of missing out), alluding to the investor’s impulsive trading decisions.
Notably, this investor had initiated a new long position on the WLFI token merely 15 hours after closing a prior position with a profit of $915,000, only to subsequently lose $1.6 million.
Confidence in Trump-Affiliated Token Dwindles
Other significant investors are also liquidating their WLFI holdings at a loss, suggesting a weakening belief in the token’s future price trajectory.
This selling pressure from large holders occurred a day after the WLFI platform executed a token burn on Wednesday, permanently removing 47 million tokens in an effort to tighten the supply and bolster the value of the remaining tokens.
The token burn proved insufficient to halt the post-launch decline. CoinMarketCap data reveals that the WLFI price dropped another 18% in the 24 hours leading up to 8:31 am UTC on Thursday, culminating in a total decrease of 41% since its launch on Monday.
Avalanche Network Sees Increased Activity Driven by DEXs, Trading Bots, and Memecoin Speculation
The Avalanche smart contract blockchain has witnessed a consistent uptick in network activity. Analysts attribute this growth to increased trading activity on decentralized exchanges and renewed speculation among large investors regarding emerging memecoins.
According to reports, Avalanche’s transaction growth outperformed all other blockchains in the past week, surging by 66% to 11.9 million transactions across over 181,000 active addresses. This suggests growing investor interest in the blockchain.
This milestone follows a “landmark effort” by the US Department of Commerce, which selected Avalanche, alongside nine other public decentralized blockchains, for publishing its real gross domestic product (GDP), as reported by Cointelegraph on August 29.
Despite Avalanche’s expanding adoption by institutions and government entities, Nicolai Sondergaard, a research analyst at the Nansen crypto intelligence platform, cautioned that the surge in activity “cannot at this point attribute this to the US Government adopting Avalanche for its GDP data.”
Sondergaard informed Cointelegraph that the network’s increased activity is primarily driven by decentralized finance (DeFi) traders, miner extractable value (MEV) trading bots, and large investors speculating on the launch of the next prominent memecoin, adding:
“The transaction surge is driven by: 60% DeFi protocol activity (Trader Joe, Aave, Benqi), 25% Automated trading bots and MEV, and 10% Whale trading and memecoin speculation […].”
The research analyst noted that the remaining 5% of activity is related to blockchain gaming and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
DeFi Lending Platforms See 72% Surge Due to Institutional Interest and RWA Collateral Adoption
Decentralized lending protocols are experiencing substantial growth in total value and are positioned to benefit from increasing institutional adoption of stablecoins and tokenized assets, according to Binance Research.
Decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocols are automated systems that employ smart contracts to facilitate lending and borrowing among investors, eliminating the need for traditional financial intermediaries such as banks.
Binance Research reports that DeFi lending protocols have surged by more than 72% year-to-date (YTD), from $53 billion at the beginning of 2025 to over $127 billion in cumulative total value locked (TVL) as of Wednesday.
This rapid growth is attributed to DeFi lending protocols capitalizing on the accelerated institutional adoption of stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets (RWAs).
In a Wednesday report exclusively shared with Cointelegraph, Binance Research stated, “As stablecoin and tokenized asset adoption accelerates, DeFi lending protocols are increasingly positioned to facilitate institutional participation.”
A significant portion of this growth is attributable to Maple Finance and Euler, which saw increases of 586% and 1,466%, respectively.
A spokesperson for Binance Research told Cointelegraph, “As tokenized assets continue integrating into the mainstream financial system, we expect a new generation of onchain financial products to emerge, enabling more efficient, transparent, and accessible capital markets,” adding:
“DeFi lending protocols, in particular, offer a programmable and interoperable framework that makes them well-suited to facilitate greater institutional participation.”
The spokesperson stated that this evolving dynamic is expected to enhance DeFi liquidity and the broader crypto ecosystem by “bridging traditional finance and decentralized infrastructure.”
Mantle 2.0 Aims to Accelerate DeFi-CeFi Convergence: Delphi Digital Analysis
Mantle 2.0, with its goal of becoming the institutional “liquidity chain” for tokenized real-world assets, is championing a novel business model that may accelerate the mutually beneficial convergence between centralized and decentralized entities in the cryptocurrency industry.
Mantle Network was originally launched as an Ethereum layer-2 (L2) scaling solution in 2021 under the BitDAO initiative. It was the first L2 network launched by a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO).
In July 2023, BitDAO and Mantle Network consolidated under the Mantle brand and the Mantle (MNT) token.
According to a report released on Wednesday by crypto research firm Delphi Digital, the project is now entering a “new phase in its lifecycle” called Mantle 2.0. Key aspects include the appointment of Bybit executives as key advisors and a new roadmap focused on the convergence of centralized finance (CeFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi).
Mantle 2.0 may pave the way for a new business model within the cryptocurrency sector, encouraging more DAO-governed projects to unite with major centralized exchanges. This would combine the benefits of decentralized governance with the deep liquidity and large user base of centralized trading platforms.
On August 18, the Bybit exchange launched several exclusive campaigns and earnings products for the MNT token.
On August 29, Bybit exchange and Mantle revealed a shared roadmap offering MNT holders reduced slippage on purchases, increased payment options within the Bybit ecosystem, and additional savings and staking opportunities.
Delphi Digital stated in a Wednesday post on X, “Mantle is no longer just an L2 but the foundation of Bybit’s ecosystem. This isn’t a simple partnership but a play for RWA dominance,” adding:
“This update shifts the Mantle token into a Bybit utility asset.”
The research firm stated, “This anchors MNT’s value to Bybit’s massive daily volume ($3-5B spot, $25B+ derivatives) over simple governance,” and added that we are seeing the emergence of a “new competitive landscape that merges TradFi infrastructure with DeFi rails.”
Venus Protocol Recovers $13.5 Million for User Lost in Phishing Attack
The decentralized finance (DeFi) lending platform Venus Protocol assisted a user in recovering stolen cryptocurrency following a phishing attack linked to the Lazarus Group, a North Korean hacking entity.
On Thursday, Venus Protocol announced that it had helped a user recover $13.5 million in cryptocurrency after the phishing incident that occurred on Tuesday. As a precautionary measure, Venus Protocol paused the platform at that time and initiated an investigation.
Venus stated that the pause prevented further fund movement, and audits confirmed that Venus’ smart contracts and front end were not compromised.
An emergency governance vote authorized the forced liquidation of the attacker’s wallet, enabling the seizure of stolen tokens and their transfer to a recovery address.
DeFi Market Overview
According to data sourced from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, most of the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization concluded the week with positive gains.
The meme token MemeCore (M) recorded the largest increase among the top 100 cryptocurrencies, surging by over 236%. It was followed by memecoin launchpad Pump.fun’s (PUMP) token, which rose by over 41% during the week.
Thank you for reading our summary of the most significant DeFi developments from this week. Please join us next Friday for more updates, insights, and educational content on this rapidly evolving sector.