The first investment of a whopping $100 million in WLFI, who is Aqua1?

Recently, a little-known Web3 fund Aqua 1 announced that it has strategically acquired 100 million dollars worth of the Trump family project World Liberty Financial (referred to as "WLFI") governance token WLFI.

Two weeks before the announcement, on-chain data had already captured some clues: an ENS address named "aqua 1.eth" had cumulatively spent 80 million USD, purchasing at least 800 million WLFI Tokens in batches. However, out of the 100 million USD subscription, the remaining 20 million USD has not yet been identified with a subscription address.

This fund is quite mysterious; its official website domain was only registered on May 28. Current public information shows that Aqua 1 is headquartered in the UAE and focuses on primary market investments and secondary asset management in the Web3 field.

After investing in WLFI, Aqua 1 will also develop and incubate the institutional-grade RWA platform BlockRock in collaboration with WLFI, and plans to establish another fund, Aqua Fund, in the Middle East.

From the beginning, it invested over 100 million dollars in betting on the Trump family projects. Who exactly is Aqua 1? What secret connections does it have with the Trump family?

Image Source: Reuters

Founder Dave Lee may be a South American Chinese tycoon.

According to sources close to Aqua 1, the founder and general partner of Aqua 1, Dave Lee, is quite influential.

Dave Lee graduated from the Stern School of Business at New York University and has worked at well-known Wall Street institutions such as UBS and Tiger Global. He has nearly 10 years of experience in traditional investment banking and cross-border merger and acquisition funds, and is familiar with the operational logic of global capital markets and strategic investment layout.

In addition to his Wall Street background, little is known about Dave Lee's South American tycoon background. Dave Lee comes from a prominent Chinese-Brazilian business family, with family enterprises spanning key sectors such as import and export trade, mining, real estate, energy, and sports entertainment, with far-reaching influence. Reports suggest that he has close ties with certain powerful royal family members in the Middle East, and the two parties may be brewing a series of strategic collaborations.

Despite his deep background, Dave Lee rarely discusses family matters publicly, and there are still many unsolved mysteries regarding his business layout. Insiders reveal that his investment moves often carry long-term strategic intentions and often coincide with subtle changes in international capital flows. Some analyses suggest that the resource network behind him may far exceed what is visible on the surface, and in the future, it may engage in more secretive and far-reaching operations in multiple key markets around the world.

The first investment of Aqua 1 in strategic cooperation with WLFI may not be a coincidence, as it is backed by a professional team that has been deeply involved in the Web3 field for ten years, accumulating rich experience in key technological areas such as distributed system development and cryptoeconomic design, while also possessing capital backgrounds and industrial resources spanning South America and North America.

Throwing 100 million dollars, aiming at the trillion-dollar RWA market?

Aqua 1's strategic cooperation of 100 million dollars with the Trump family project WLFI may not just be a simple financial investment, but rather a key move for Aqua 1 in the Web3 space, particularly in the direction of RWA.

From the investment news officially announced by Aqua 1, it can be seen that the purpose of this investment is to accelerate the construction of a financial ecosystem centered on blockchain development, RWA tokenization, and stablecoin integration. With the imminent passage of the U.S. "GENIUS Stablecoin Act", RWA, stablecoins, and crypto payments are the most critical tracks this year, and they are also the key directions that Aqua 1 is betting on.

WLFI, as a project in which Trump and his family members are involved and supportive, has a Web3 layout that targets RWA and stablecoins. Its goal is to integrate the robustness of traditional finance with the openness of blockchain, dedicated to becoming a bridge between traditional finance and the future digital world.

Currently, the digital dollar stablecoin USD1 launched by WLFI is also the first stablecoin backed by a presidential endorsement, with a market capitalization exceeding 2.2 billion dollars. The political background halo of USD1 also helps it become one of the most noticed and promising stablecoins after USDT and USDC.

In terms of accelerating adoption, USD1 has already been adopted by nearly 20 CEX or DeFi protocols and cryptocurrency wallets. USD1 is also gradually penetrating into real-world consumption and other payment scenarios. WLFI has launched a global debit card supporting USD1, and AEON Pay has integrated USD1, allowing its use for payments at over 20 million offline merchants in Southeast Asia.

For Aqua 1, which has multiple traditional industry resources in South America, it is more important to hop on the Trump family's RWA express than a financial investment of over 100 million dollars, to quickly open up the market for the tokenization of its traditional industry resources.

For WLFI, the Aqua 1 team can also assist WLFI in expanding into South America, Europe, Asia, and emerging markets.

Currently, the RWA platform BlockRock, jointly developed and incubated by Aqua 1 and WLFI, has not yet announced more detailed information. However, it can be expected that the commercial landscape in traditional sectors and the political forces behind Aqua 1 and WLFI will provide a natural advantage for BlockRock's compliance and growth.

The Strategic Ambitions Behind Betting on the Trump Family Project

On the surface, Aqua 1's first investment in WLFI aims to expand RWA, but its strategic ambitions may go far beyond that. The vision behind the Aqua 1 group seems to point towards integrating resources from the Middle East, South America, and North America, attempting to build a cross-regional Web3 ecosystem.

From the naming of Aqua 1 and the future plans announced by its team, Aqua 1 may just be a future branch of the group behind it.

According to the press release, WLFI will also assist the Aqua 1 team in establishing another fund called "Aqua Fund" in the Middle East. This fund will collaborate with key interest groups in the Middle East to accelerate the digital economic transformation through blockchain infrastructure, AI integration, and Web3 applications. It also plans to list on secondary trading markets such as the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) to provide liquidity for investors.

The reason Aqua 1 was able to successfully invest in WLFI may also be based on the cooperative foundation established by its parent group and the Trump family in traditional business sectors. By investing in WLFI, Aqua 1 quickly formed a strategic alliance with the presidential family in the Web3 chessboard.

Aqua 1's foundation in South America and emerging markets, along with the Trump family's business and political influence in North America and globally, creates resource complementarity for both parties in the Web3 space.

By integrating financial innovations from the Middle East, resource networks from South America, and market influence from North America, Aqua 1 is collaborating with WLFI to create a global Web3 financial ecosystem.