Trump-backed crypto stablecoin dips following 'attack,' quickly recovers

By Lawrence Delevingne

BOSTON, Feb 23 (Reuters) - The Trump family-backed crypto stablecoin, USD1, briefly dipped below its $1 benchmark price on Monday, to around $0.994, but quickly recovered.

A spokesman for World Liberty Financial, for which USD1 is a signature product, said in a statement to Reuters its engineering and security teams had “successfully repelled a coordinated attack.”

World Liberty, which was co-founded in 2024 by President Donald Trump, his three sons and a group of partners, added in a post on X.com that the X accounts of its co-founders were accessed without authorization. It did not name which ones. There was no hack of the digital contracts and wallets behind WLFI or USD1, the post added.

“Zero smart contracts were affected. All USD1 funds remain completely safe, secure, and fully backed. Our infrastructure and team operated exactly as designed,” the post said.

Like other stablecoins, USD1 is backed by reserves of U.S. dollars and cash-like securities so that its market price stays close to the benchmark of $1. Some deviation is normal, but more abrupt declines, even if small, are closely watched.

USD1 was last trading at $0.9994, within its historical range. It is the fifth largest stablecoin by market cap, according to crypto industry tracker CoinGecko.com.

(Reporting by Lawrence Delevingne in Boston, Editing by Tom Lasseter and Stephen Coates)