NotSoDeFi.com
← Back to Projects

USD1

USD1

BitGo-issued stablecoin for World Liberty Financial. Can freeze addresses. Affiliated entities receive 75% of WLFI token sale proceeds per filed disclosures. Banking license application filed Jan 2026.

Last updated: Jan 9, 2026

1.0
Total Score

0.4 × Chain + 0.4 × Control + 0.2 × Fairness

1.8

Chain Score

Technical and economic decentralization of the chain

1.1

Control Score

Power and control structures around the protocol

0.0

Fairness Score

Launch, distribution, and governance fairness

Notes

  • *BitGo Trust Company controls all USD1 issuance and has freeze capability (like USDC/USDT).
  • *Trump family receives 75% of World Liberty Financial token sale proceeds, creating financial incentive for USD1 adoption.
  • *Reserves held by BitGo/Fidelity. Banking license application filed Jan 2026 to move custody under WLF control.
  • *USD1 launched Sept 2025 alongside WLFI governance token as primary stablecoin for WLF DeFi protocol.
  • *Standard centralized stablecoin model with single issuer controlling supply and freeze capability.

Chain Score

Technical/economic decentralization

A1

Nakamoto Coefficient

Number of independent entities that would need to collude to compromise the system. Higher is better.

tap to expand
1.3
A2

Validator/Miner Concentration

Share of top 5 validators/miners in stake/hashrate. Lower concentration is better.

tap to expand
1.0
A3

Client Independence

Number of independently developed full-node implementations. Measures resilience against single-codebase bugs and single-entity control.

tap to expand
3.0
A4

Node Geography & Hosting

Geographic distribution of nodes and cloud hosting concentration. Lower cloud % is better.

tap to expand
N/A
A5

Full Node Decentralization

Number of independent full nodes validating the chain. More nodes = harder to attack, better censorship resistance. For PoW chains, this is separate from miners. For PoS, validators often = nodes.

tap to expand
N/A

Control Score

Power and control structures

B1

Corporate/Foundation Capture

Is there a dominant company/foundation controlling roadmap, marketing, and hiring? Can the project survive without them?

tap to expand
1.0
B2

Repo/Protocol Ownership

Distribution of merge rights in core repositories (clients, specs). More distributed is better.

tap to expand
1.6
B3

Brand & Frontend Control

Who owns brand, domains, main frontends, official wallets/apps? Decentralized ownership is better.

tap to expand
1.7
B4

Treasury & Upgrade Keys

Composition of treasury/upgrade multisigs and admin keys. More independent signers is better.

tap to expand
1.4
B5

Admin Halt Capability

Can a single entity or small group unilaterally halt, freeze, or censor the chain? This is a critical centralization risk.

tap to expand
0.0
B6

Protocol Immutability

Has the protocol made fundamental rule changes (consensus mechanism, monetary policy, contentious forks)? Immutable rules are a core property of decentralization.

tap to expand
N/A

Fairness Score

Launch and distribution fairness

C1

Launch Fairness / Premine

Team/VC/Foundation premine and launch model (fair launch vs. sale/IDO). Less premine is better.

tap to expand
0.0
C2

Token Concentration

Share of circulating supply held by insiders (team/VC/foundation). Less concentration is better.

tap to expand
N/A
C3

Governance Control

Share of governance voting power held by insiders. 100% = no token governance (team decides everything). Less insider control is better.

tap to expand
0.0

Sources