The Ultimate Fighting Championship announced Friday that some fighters at Sunday’s White House mixed martial arts event will receive bonuses in a cryptocurrency issued by World Liberty Financial, the Trump family crypto venture, linking President Donald Trump’s personal financial interests to a competition being promoted on government property.
World Liberty Financial, a Delaware-based venture co-founded by Trump and his sons in 2024 alongside the sons of Trump’s friend and special envoy to the Middle East, Steven Witkoff, is the “Presenting Partner of a new $250,000 Performance of the Night bonus pool,” the UFC said in a press release Friday evening. The UFC said it would make those payments in USD1, the company’s “stablecoin,” a tradable digital asset whose value is pegged to the U.S. dollar and backed by dollar reserves.
The event — UFC Freedom 250, scheduled for Trump’s 80th birthday on June 14 — is being held on the South Lawn of the White House. The fight is not affiliated with Freedom 250, a separate organization promoting the 250th anniversary of the United States.
World Liberty Financial first announced it was an official sponsor of the event on June 10 on X. The next day, the UFC said it would pay bonuses to fighters in a separate cryptocurrency called CRO. Then on Friday at 9:30 p.m., the UFC released a statement disclosing the World Liberty bonus pool paid in USD1, the company’s own stablecoin.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle said there is no conflict of interest. “The Fake News’ continued attempts to fabricate conflicts of interest are irresponsible and reinforce the public’s distrust in what they read,” Ingle said in a statement. He noted that Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children.
The use of the stablecoin in the fight appears to boost World Liberty’s efforts to secure broader use of USD1 as a payment method, according to the Guardian. World Liberty Financial has applied for a banking license from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
Todd Phillips, an expert in cryptocurrency at the Klaros Group, told the Guardian: “This sounds like advertising.” He said paying fighters in the USD1 stablecoin has the same economic function as writing them a check “but announcing to the world they are doing it in USD1 sounds like they are advertising to the world that USD1 is out there and that it is connected to the UFC and the White House.”
Trump’s financial disclosure form lists his holdings in World Liberty Financial as over $50 million. Reuters reported this month that the Trump family’s crypto ventures, led by World Liberty Financial, have generated billions of dollars in paper gains.
World Liberty Financial has been involved in litigation related to its “governance token,” a separate type of cryptocurrency. Justin Sun, a crypto tycoon who was an early buyer of those tokens, sued the company this year, alleging it improperly froze his tokens. World Liberty has countersued Sun for defamation. The USD1 stablecoins are separate from the governance tokens.
Zach Witkoff, Steven Witkoff’s son and CEO of World Liberty Financial, said in a statement: “We believe this is the future of finance, and we’re excited to partner with UFC, which has done more than any organization to modernize the business of sports.”