**World Liberty Financial Token Sale Launch Causes Website Crash Due to High Demand**

World Liberty Financial, the cryptocurrency initiative spearheaded by former President Donald Trump, experienced a website crash shortly after launching its token sale on Tuesday. The highly anticipated decentralized finance (DeFi) project had opened its whitelist for accredited investors and non-U.S. persons on September 30th. Co-founder Zach Folkman revealed to CNBC that the project had garnered significant interest, with "well over 100,000 people" registered to purchase the WLFI token.

As of the latest reports, the website has resumed normal operation. However, blockchain data from Etherscan revealed that 5,317 unique wallet addresses held the WLFI token by Tuesday afternoon. World Liberty Financial announced the sale of over 532 million tokens out of the 20 billion available for public distribution.

Sandy Peng, an advisor to World Liberty Financial, indicated that the overwhelming traffic caused the website crash. “The team wasn't expecting this level of interest,” Peng told CoinDesk, mentioning that the site received 72 million unique visits within the first hour of the token sale.

The WLFI token is designed to govern the World Liberty Financial platform, giving holders a voice in protocol updates, technical modifications, promotional collaborations, and the management of security risks. The platform itself offers services for borrowing and lending cryptocurrency.

Even though World Liberty Financial has been positioned as a solution for unbanked and de-banked individuals, only accredited investors are eligible to purchase WLFI. According to the SEC, accredited investors must have an income of at least $200,000 (or $300,000 with a spouse) or a net worth of at least $1 million, excluding their primary residence.

A "gold paper" detailing the token was published on Tuesday, naming Donald Trump as the "chief crypto associate." His sons Eric, Donald Trump Jr., and Barron are designated as Web3 Ambassadors. The document outlines plans for the World Liberty Financial protocol to provide users access to third-party DeFi applications, including digital wallets for stable coins and other non-security digital assets. Notably, the paper emphasizes that the tokens are not available to U.S. persons and have not been registered with any U.S. or other authorities.