An AI finance firm is exploring the sale of its assets, marking a dramatic reversal; this company has channeled over $500 million to the Trump family.
A 2025 Times Square billboard featured Eric Trump promoting the World Liberty Financial and Alt5 Sigma collaboration.
An AI finance company is in discussions to sell its core payment processing business to the blockchain firm Perpetuals.com, with a potential deal value of up to $15 million.
A year ago, a cryptocurrency company owned by the Trump family invested $750 million to acquire a controlling stake in this small payments company. In that transaction, nearly all other investors incurred losses, while the Trump family profited substantially.
According to public company filings, the Nasdaq-listed entity Alt5 Sigma, now renamed AI Financial (stock symbol AIFC, up 0.54%), is currently in talks with blockchain company Perpetuals.com (stock symbol PDC, down 12.59%) regarding the sale of its core operations. Sources and corporate documents indicate the total consideration under discussion could reach a maximum of $15 million. Terms are not yet finalized, and the negotiations remain fluid, with the possibility that a deal may not be reached.
This proposed sale of core assets represents a complete departure from the company's previously stated strategic direction. Previously, the Trump-affiliated crypto platform World Liberty Financial had positioned this company as a central vehicle for industry growth, with plans to build a global payment business based on a dollar-pegged stablecoin.
In reality, however, AI Financial's primary role has been to funnel funds to the Trump family, with cumulative transfers exceeding $500 million, creating a scenario where investors suffered heavy losses while the presidential family cashed out. Last week, President Trump disclosed that his crypto-related business generated over $1.4 billion in revenue in 2025, prompting immediate criticism from numerous Democratic figures who accused him of leveraging his presidential position for personal gain.
In August 2025, World Liberty Financial used its own issued cryptocurrency to acquire a majority stake in AI Financial. Subsequently, this payments company raised $750 million from external investors to purchase more WLFI tokens issued by World Liberty Financial.
These transactions left AI Financial holding a significant amount of WLFI tokens, the value of which has since plummeted by 70%, with some tokens still subject to lock-up periods. Investors who participated in the fundraising have seen the value of their AI Financial shares drop by over 90%, and the company's current total market capitalization stands at just $80 million.
Losses were borne entirely by investors, while profits flowed to the Trump family: of the proceeds from World Liberty Financial's sale of WLFI tokens, 75% went to the Trump family. The AI Financial purchase alone generated approximately $540 million in cash for them. Trump's disclosure filings show he derived $527 million from WLFI token sales, though the filings do not specify which exact transaction this income corresponds to.
Spokespersons for both World Liberty Financial and AI Financial declined to comment on the current asset sale negotiations. Tokyo-based Perpetuals.com stated on Tuesday that it had signed a non-binding letter of intent to evaluate the acquisition of AI Financial's payment business.
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly responded that all of Trump's assets are held in independent accounts managed entirely by independent third-party financial institutions, with no conflict of interest. She added, "The policies championed by the President have increased the wealth and standard of living for all Americans."
The Trump-affiliated entity DT Marks DEFI holds a 38% stake in World Liberty Financial, with Trump himself owning 70% of that entity. Trump's three sons are listed as co-founders, and Trump is registered as an "honorary co-founder."
World Liberty Financial CEO Zach Witkoff, the son of Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, became chairman of the then-Alt5 company following the acquisition. At the time of the purchase, Zach described it in an interview as a "strong, great company with great technology."
The new controlling shareholder never realized its core plan: integrating World Liberty Financial's USD1 stablecoin into Alt5's e-commerce payment platform. Transaction data from Alt5's website shows the platform never processed a single USD1 stablecoin payment.
Late last year, Alt5 experienced a wave of executive departures, including the CEO, interim CEO, CFO, COO, and a director who chaired the audit committee.
In April of this year, Alt5 Sigma officially changed its name to AI Financial, publicly stating its goal was to build an automated payment finance platform. The following month, the company issued a going concern warning, highlighting survival risks: due to a massive devaluation of its WLFI token holdings, it posted a quarterly loss of $271 million, its cumulative debt rose to $39 million, and it had utilized a $15 million credit line provided by World Liberty Financial.
The proposed sale of the payment subsidiary would strip AI Financial of its only revenue-generating business segment, which generated $25 million last year.
Corporate documents detail the terms of the potential deal: Nasdaq-listed Perpetuals.com would pay a $5 million upfront consideration in its own stock, with up to an additional $10 million contingent on meeting revenue targets; Perpetuals.com would also assume all the debt of the payment unit.
The documents also state that Perpetuals.com, which holds a European Union cryptocurrency operating license, has agreed to evaluate making World Liberty Financial's USD1 stablecoin available to European investors and to license its trading engine technology to AI Financial.
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