WLFI brings USD1 stablecoin to UFC bonuses
World Liberty Financial will fund $250,000 in fighter bonuses at UFC Freedom 250 through its USD1 stablecoin, bringing one of the highest-profile real-world deployments of the digital asset to date.
The company will serve as a presenting partner for the Performance of the Night bonus pool at the June 14 event held on the South Lawn of the White House, according to comments from Dana White.
“World Liberty Financial will serve as a presenting partner and are adding another $250,000 to bonuses for the fighters that night,”
White said.
The WLFI-funded bonuses will be paid in USD1, while a separate $1 million bonus pool funded by Crypto.com through CRO rewards will bring the total post-fight bonus pool to approximately $1.65 million, a record for UFC bonus payouts.
WLFI was co-founded by Donald Trump and his sons in 2024, with Trump publicly serving as the venture’s “Chief Crypto Advocate” and reporting holdings worth more than $50 million in financial disclosures.
WLFI chief executive Zach Witkoff said the partnership demonstrates how stablecoins can move money outside traditional banking rails.
“A victory in Washington should mean money in your pocket immediately, not when the bank opens,”
Witkoff said.
He added:
“USD1 makes U.S. dollars more accessible and faster than ever before. We believe this is the future of finance, and we’re excited to partner with UFC.”
The event has also attracted significant activity on Polymarket, where traders have placed more than $4.1 million across 18 prediction markets, including roughly $2 million on the headline bout between Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje.
Topuria entered the fight as an approximately 80% favourite, while the co-main event between Alex Pereira and Ciryl Gane attracted around $1 million in prediction market volume.
The partnership gives WLFI a highly visible platform to showcase USD1 adoption as stablecoin issuers increasingly compete to expand real-world payment and settlement use cases beyond the crypto sector.
At the time of reporting, World Liberty Financial price was $0.06.