Mysterious Firm Behind Trump’s WLFI $100M Investment Exposed

Late in June 2025, a mysterious firm invested $100 million to Donald Trump’s DeFi project World Liberty Financial (WLFI). However, the investment raised several questions with the crypto community finding the move rather controversial. In the wake of things, crypto “investigators” took on a dig into Aqua 1 Foundation – the firm behind the investment

And in a recent exposé, reports revealed that the firm is connected to an infamous market-making firm known as Web3port. A dig into the founders behind Aqua 1 further reveals more mysteries

Aqua 1 Linked to Banned Market-Making Firm Web3port

An exposé targeting one of the most mysterious crypto-political money trails has revealed that the controversial firm known as Aqua 1 Foundation is connected to an outcast market-making firm, Web3port

🇺🇸 AQUA 1, the UNKNOWN COMPANY that contributed $100M to Trump’s World Liberty Financial, has been revealed to be the disgraced firm Web3Port. 👀 pic.twitter.com/6vVeJAtUbz

— Crypto Crib (@Crypto_Crib_) July 15, 2025

Web3port was previously banned from leading decentralized exchanges (DEXs) back in 2023 on allegations of market manipulation. The firm also made an appearance around the debate associated with market-makers manipulating the market back in March 2025. In this particular probe, Web3port was associated with Goplus, Myshell, and Movement as per a Binance market-manipulation investigation

The dig into Aqua 1 began back in June 27, after the firm got the spotlight for investing $100 million to US President Donald Trump’s crypto project World Liberty Financial

“We @Aqua1Fund have been building with @worldlibertyfi behind the scenes for a while now – this $100M move is just the public start. From spinning up @BlockRock_rwa for on-chain RWAs, to backing the USD1 stablecoin rails, we’re fully aligned on bringing real-world liquidity into Web3,” Dave Lee, the Co-founder at Aqua 1, wrote on June 28

However, while the firm has been claiming to have UAE registration and attempts to present itself as a Gulf-based investment firm, the exposé revealed otherwise. It is rather a rebranded shell linked to the founders of the banned Web3port, as per the expose

A post on X by Shawn Chauhan revealed that the firm is neither registered in Abu Dhabi nor licensed by Dubai’s crypto regulator (VARA). Additionally, the firm is not listed with the UAE Securities Authority and its website was just created a month before the investment, further raising concerns

“Aqua 1 Foundation claims to be UAE-based but exists nowhere in official records…This isn’t just secretive, it’s impossible,” Shawn remarked

More Mystery Arise From Probe into Aqua 1’s Founder

With very little is known about the Aqua 1 Foundation, its founders are also just as mysterious. The supposed founder going by the name “Dave Lee” on X has no verifiable background. The crypto community also can’t put a face to the name as the founder is fond of using a manga-style avatar on his social platforms

Dave Lee’s X Page (Aqua 1 Co-founder) | Source: XShawn Chauhan, also confirmed that Dave Lee does not allow direct contact on his social pages. This anonymity of the founder raises further questions about the credibility of Aqua 1

“The supposed founder of Aqua 1 is more mysterious than the company itself: X account created in 2023 with handful of posts, profile picture is manga-style cartoon, claims locations in São Paulo, NYC, Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi, nobody can contact him directly. A cartoon character just bought influence with the President,” Shawn mocked

Investigation by Shawn also shows that Aqua 1 has a very shallow crypto transactions record with only $100 million under its management. As per a report by CCN, blockchain data shows that the firm’s wallet only received $90 million from OKX exchange between March and June 2025. The only major transfer was of $80 million made to World Liberty Financial with subsequent $9 million and another $3 million made to anonymous wallets

Aqua 1’s revelation hints at a possible political driven influence, unregistered lobbying and potential unethical operations in crypto funding. However, more details are expected as this is a developing story