Ex-market maker exec tied to $100M bet on Trump crypto token
VC & Fundraising ·
A New York Times investigation ties a former UAE-based executive at crypto market maker Web3Port to a $100 million purchase of World Liberty Financial's WLFI token.
The New York Times named Chinese businessman Guren "Bobby" Zhou, who previously oversaw Web3Port's operations in the UAE, as the individual behind Aqua 1, an entity that put $100 million into WLFI in June 2025. That purchase placed Aqua 1 among the token's largest buyers. Because World Liberty Financial operates a revenue-sharing structure, as much as roughly $75 million of that sum could ultimately reach entities tied to Donald Trump and his three sons, with benefits also potentially extending to the family of co-founder Zach Witkoff. Where Zhou's capital originated and what drove the investment remain unexplained, according to the report.
The disclosure adds a new layer to scrutiny already surrounding Web3Port's trading history. Separately from the WLFI purchase, parties connected to the firm are reported to have once held about 5% of the total supply of MOVE through an entity called Rentech, later offloading roughly 66 million MOVE tokens for approximately $38 million in USDT following the token's launch, per wublockchain.xyz. The same reporting links Web3Port to allegations of irregular market-making activity involving the tokens GoPlus (GPS) and MyShell (SHELL).
Taken together, the two threads point to a pattern in which a single trading operation moved from large post-launch token sales in one project to a nine-figure allocation in a politically connected venture. The overlap raises questions about how funds tied to a market maker with a history of disputed trading practices found their way into a token whose profits can flow to a sitting president's family.
At least two distinct sources have now covered the connection between Zhou, Web3Port, and the WLFI investment, lending some corroboration to the core claims, though key details remain outstanding. The source of Zhou's $100 million and his reasons for directing it toward WLFI have not been established. Also unresolved is whether the alleged irregular market-making tied to GoPlus and MyShell will draw further scrutiny, and whether World Liberty Financial or the Trump family will respond directly to the report's findings.