Trump’s Crypto Stablecoins Set to Shake Up UFC Bonuses—What’s Really Behind the Move?

Who would have thought that the White House lawn would double as an unusual ring where UFC fighters get paid in stablecoins linked to the Trump family’s crypto venture, World Liberty Financial? It’s like mixing the old-school showdown with digital currency drama—bonus checks in USD1 stablecoin rather than cold, hard cash. With UFC confirming up to a quarter-million dollars in crypto bonuses, the price of USD1 even sprung above the $1 peg, stirring up quite the buzz in trading circles. But here’s the kicker: while the “UFC Freedom 250” event was a spectacle under scrutiny for its hefty $60 million price tag, its sponsors paint a vivid picture of modern crypto-politics and controversy swirling around the Trump administration’s digital empire. So, is this the future of fighter pay, or just another round in a high-stakes political fight? Dive deeper into the saga that’s as much about money in the ring as behind the scenes. LEARN MORE.

Some of the fighters in Sunday’s Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event on the White House lawn will be paid bonuses in stablecoins issued by the Trump family crypto company World Liberty Financial.

On Monday, World Liberty confirmed that UFC would pay up to $250,000 in bonuses using USD1, the US dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by the company. UFC had previously made a similar announcement before the event.

The price of USD1 jumped above $1 on June 12 and remained there, according to CoinMarketCap data at last look. Trading volume in the past 24 hours was up more than 93%, at $2.38 billion.

World Liberty Financial’s USD1 has traded below $1 for most of the past month. Source: CoinMarketCap.

The “UFC Freedom 250” event, strongly criticized by many in Congress for its reported $60 million price tag, was held on the south lawn of the White House as part of events planned for the country’s semiquincentennial. Sponsors included World Liberty, prediction markets company Polymarket and cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com, which said it would offer $1 million in bonuses for fighters with its Cronos (CRO) token.

World Liberty, launched in 2024 by members of the Trump family and some others since linked to his administration, has been at the center of controversy around corruption claims targeting the president. In May 2025, a UAE company said it planned to use the USD1 stablecoin to settle a $2 billion investment in Binance. World Liberty also has an application pending with the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a national trust charter.

Trump’s financial disclosures filed in January 2025 listed his holdings in World Liberty as worth more than $50 million. Last year, he also signed the GENIUS Act into law, establishing a framework for payment stablecoins in the US amid similar criticism from many Democratic lawmakers over potential conflicts of interest.

“There seems to be no limit to Donald Trump’s self-dealing,” said Jaelin O’Halloran, a spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee, in response to the UFC announcement. “Trump never misses an opportunity to use the power of the presidency to make himself and his family even richer.”

White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told Cointelegraph that “there are no conflicts of interest,” saying that Trump’s assets “are in a trust managed by his children.”

World Liberty faces lawsuit from Tron founder

In April, Tron founder Justin Sun, a Trump supporter and one of the largest holders of the president’s TRUMP memecoin, filed a lawsuit against World Liberty, alleging that the company froze his tokens and threatened to destroy them “without any proper justification.” Sun said he would continue to support Trump and the administration’s crypto policies, though World Liberty countersued the Tron founder weeks later.

Magazine: Crypto scammers face death, Aussie CGT makes Asian hubs attractive: Asia Express