The drama in the crypto world is getting bolder! Just a few days ago, it was rumored that Sun Yuchen and the Trump family were 'like one family', and then it turned into a big show of 'suppression' and 'market crashing'. The WLFI token was directly halved, and retail investors are crying out for injustice in the comments.
But Old Yang (that's me) has been in the industry for 8 years and knows the tricks of the trade best. All the seemingly sudden 'cracks' are scripts that have been written long ago. Today, I bring you on-chain solid data to expose the bottom of this controversy and tell you who is really harvesting and who is the scapegoat! (I suggest saving this for later to avoid being limited in reach.)
1. First, a slap in the face! Is Sun Yuchen crashing the market? On-chain data: the timeline does not match.
Now the whole internet is buzzing with 'Sun Yuchen emptied WLFI and crashed the market,' but those in the know understand that in the crypto world, solving cases relies entirely on on-chain data; this cannot deceive people. I spent an entire day digging through relevant public chain browsers and discovered a funny fact:
The first time WLFI plummeted was on month X, day X, at hour XX, and the transfer actions associated with Sun Yuchen’s team occurred a full four hours after the crash. It's like someone saying, 'You hit me first, so I hit back,' which logically does not hold up.
Looking at the flow of funds, Sun Yuchen's $9 million transfer ultimately went into his own cold wallet and a liquidity pool of a certain platform, and did not enter the sell order queue of the trading platform—real crashing means putting coins directly on the market for sale, not transferring them into one's own pocket.
The real culprit is actually the early private placement wallets! Within 72 hours of WLFI's issuance, eight mysterious wallets dumped over 200 million tokens, directly taking away $520 million, causing retail investors to lose an average of 40%. Following the on-chain traces, all these wallets belong to the early core team and private placement parties, with no connection to Sun Yuchen. To put it bluntly, someone cashed out early and then shifted the blame onto the most controversial figure, Sun Yuchen.
Second, the essence of cooperation: a mutually exploitative 'IP collusion,' with an escape route long prepared.
Some say that Sun Yuchen and the Trump family are 'deeply bound.' In my view, it is a business where both sides benefit, and it even resembles 'internet celebrities riding on the coattails of stars.'
Since 2023, Sun Yuchen has been leveraging his fund to ride on Trump’s IP, investing in related MEME coins and donating some small money to campaign activities, while also mingling under the title of 'digital asset consultant' to participate in closed-door meetings. In short, he aims to use Trump’s fame to profit in the MEME coin space—after all, the total market value of Trump-related tokens has exceeded $3 billion in the past two years, with Sun Yuchen holding 40%, capturing a significant amount of traffic from traditional MEME coins.
The Trump family is not losing out either; they are making money by licensing IP and have deliberately drawn a line: Trump's eldest son has publicly stated that WLFI is an independent project, and they only sell IP, not participate in operations. Translated, this means 'don't come looking for me when things go wrong,' a typical precursor to shifting blame.
As for the $75 million liquidity that Sun Yuchen provided to WLFI, it looks quite substantial; in reality, it is just a common industry 'high-interest bait' trick—some platform offers a 20% interest on demand deposits, essentially using subsidies to attract people, and it is clearly stated 'not capital protected.' If there are losses, one can only blame their own greed.
Third, the hidden hands behind the public opinion war: anonymous KOLs are charging to set the narrative, $300 per negative article.
What disgusts me the most is the manipulation of public opinion in this controversy. I asked friends in the industry, and many crypto influencers with over 100,000 followers have received 'promotional orders' from anonymous organizations, requesting content about 'Sun Yuchen crashing WLFI,' with compensation ranging from $50 to $200, settled in stablecoins, all completely anonymous.
The motives of these people are too obvious: first, the core team that cashed out early needs a scapegoat to divert retail investors' anger; second, Sun Yuchen took a slice of the crypto capital pie, and some people want to take this opportunity to tarnish his reputation; third, the Trump team fears that they will be implicated in Sun Yuchen's controversy, as US regulations are strict on 'celebrity endorsement tokens.' Being tied to Sun Yuchen could affect their support from swing voters, so it’s better to 'cut ties' early for self-preservation.
Fourth, more terrifying than crashing the market: three fatal flaws of WLFI, those who bought should take a look immediately.
In fact, regardless of whether there is this incident with Sun Yuchen, WLFI itself is a high-risk project. I advise those who hold it to conduct a self-check quickly:
First, governance is completely centralized. The smart contract hides an 'emergency freeze mechanism,' allowing the project team to freeze anyone's wallet at will. Last year in month X, a wallet ranked sixth in holdings was frozen due to 'suspected violations.' This is not decentralization; it is clearly a one-man show by the project team.
Second, IP licensing could cool off at any time. The cooperation agreement is clearly written that the IP license lasts only for one year, and as long as the Trump side thinks there is a 'significant negative,' they can terminate the cooperation at any time. Without Trump’s IP, WLFI is just a pile of useless code.
Third, liquidity relies entirely on one platform. 70% of transactions are concentrated on a specific platform, which is not compliant in many European and American countries. Once regulatory scrutiny occurs, the tokens turn into 'dead water,' making them unsellable.
