US president-elect Donald Trump is already taking proactive steps in the crypto industry to begin his administration, starting with Ethereum. First was the launch of his meme token on Solana and the endorsement of Melania Trump’s meme token on social media platform X. Behind the scenes, World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture affiliated with Donald Trump and some of his family members, has taken a major step toward Ethereum. On-chain transaction data reveals that the DeFi company recently converted a $20 million worth of USDC into 6,041 ETH, purchasing the tokens at a rate of $3,311 each.
From Solana To Ethereum
The launch of the Official Trump meme token on the Solana blockchain caught many in the crypto community off guard and it served as a nod to Solana’s increasing prominence in the blockchain space. Particularly, this move highlighted Solana’s rising prominence and its growing edge over Ethereum as a preferred blockchain for launching meme coins and smart contracts. Notably, Solana-based meme tokens have gained significant traction in the current market cycle, contrasting with Ethereum-based meme coins and utility cryptocurrencies, which dominated during the 2021 crypto bull market.
Furthermore, Ethereum was considered Donald Trump’s blockchain of choice due to its significant allocation within World Liberty Financial’s portfolio. This is because World Liberty Financial had already purchased millions of dollars worth of ETH. Interestingly, the DeFi company also has a substantial amount of Chainlink and Aave in its portfolio, which are two other Ethereum-based cryptocurrencies.
However, the recent transaction shows that Donald Trump might still be proactive on ETH. The transaction saw World Liberty utilize $20 million USDC to acquire 6,041 ETH, despite Ethereum’s underperformance in the current market cycle when compared to other large market cap cryptocurrencies. Interestingly, this brings the total ETH purchase to $47 million worth of ETH in the past 24 hours.
According to data from Arkham Intelligence, World Liberty’s crypto portfolio is valued at $276.4 million, with Ethereum making up the largest share. Specifically, World Liberty holds 39,000 ETH worth $128 million, which is a clear indication of its faith in Ethereum’s value proposition.
Beyond ETH, the portfolio includes significant allocations to stablecoins, with $78.55 million in USDT and $62.32 million in USDC. Additionally, World Liberty holds $1.97 million in Aave, $1.91 million in Chainlink, $1.80 million in Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), and $818,460 in Wrapped Ethereum (WETH), among many other altcoins. Surprisingly, World Liberty doesn’t hold any Solana.
ETH’s Price And Market Sentiment
As mentioned, Ethereum’s performance this cycle has been underwhelming compared to early expectations in the beginning of this cycle as the largest altcoin. Particularly, the king of altcoins has yet to break substantially and hold above the $4,000 price mark.
Nonetheless, significant investments like this can go a long way in rebuilding a positive sentiment surrounding ETH and increase buying interest from retail and institutional investors.
At the time of writing, ETH is trading at $3,310.
