South Korean Exchange Bithumb Partners With Trump Family-Backed WLFI to Boost DeFi Expansion

South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb has signed a strategic partnership with World Liberty Financial, the Trump-affiliated crypto venture, on Monday.

Per an official statement released Tuesday, the partnership will help foster global DeFi growth. Further, the deal aims to explore new business opportunities in the DeFi sector and strengthen global investor confidence.

“This collaboration with WLF will be a significant milestone in enhancing Bithumb’s global competitiveness,” said Bithumb CEO Lee Jae-won. “We will continue to strengthen our strategic network going forward.”

The companies signed a strategic memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Monday at the Bithumb Financial Tower in Seoul. Bithumb’s Lee, World Liberty co-founder Zak Folkman and executives from both firms attended.

Bithumb, WLF Partnership Could Bring Wider Investor Base and New Markets

The partnership follows Lee’s meeting with Eric Trump, World Liberty co-founder and Trump’s second son, at the Hong Kong Bitcoin Asia 2025 event in August.

Lee pledged to continue strengthening the firm’s “strategic network.”

“This collaboration with WLF will be a significant milestone in enhancing Bithumb’s global competitiveness,” he added.

Besides, the collaboration could be a crowd-puller, especially for retail investors who have been hesitant about crypto due to perceived volatility or lack of regulation.

Combining Bithumb’s technical expertise with WLF’s strategic vision, the initiative could also accelerate the development and adoption of new DeFi products.

The exchange said that it also discussed strategic collaboration with stablecoin issuer Circle simultaneously, in an effort to continue its global expansion.

Exchange Recently Faced Regulatory Hurdles

South Korean financial watchdogs recently sounded an alarm on local exchanges, including Bithumb, regarding crypto lending and margin trading services. The regulators cited concerns over high-leverage trading operations.

Following the regulatory pressure, Bithumb announced scaling back its crypto lending service, reducing its leverage ratio from x4 to x2.

Early this month, the exchange faced a sudden outage, following a disruption within its computer systems. Bithumb promised to compensate customers who were affected by the 100-minute outage.