KEY POINTS
- The president’s son said it’s a great time to buy Ethereum, referring to the market dip
- $ETH prices climbed after Eric Trump’s post, climbing nearly 14% in the day
- WLFI moved nearly $168 million in $ETH earlier in the day
- The DeFi project previously purchased $47 million in Ethereum
Presidential son Eric Trump on Monday urged cryptocurrency users to consider buying Ethereum (ETH) while prices haven’t recovered significantly, seemingly triggering a price pump on the world’s second-largest crypto asset by market cap.
The token is up nearly 14% in the day and is trading above $2,800 as of late Monday night. Just a day earlier, the crypto asset plunged as low as $2,400 amid a broader crypto market downturn triggered by President Donald Trump’s tariff announcements.
CoinGecko
President’s Son Pumps $ETH – Bitcoin Maxis Push Back
“In my opinion, it’s a great time to add $ETH,” President Trump’s son wrote on X, gaining mixed reactions from the crypto industry, and especially drawing criticism from Bitcoin maximalists.
Ethereum holders were pleased with the younger Trump’s statement, and holders of other cryptocurrencies also tried to encourage Eric to consider other altcoins and meme coins.
However, Bitcoin maximalists were disappointed, and some seemed quite disappointed. For many maxis – BTC holders who believe Bitcoin is the only crypto worthy of being held – Eric is making the wrong move of promoting ETH.
Among the BTC maxis who took to the comments section of Eric’s post to disapprove of his Ethereum support were Riot Platforms VP of Research Pierre Rochard and libertarian and BTC holder Bitcoin RothBard.
Adding ETH to my list of things not to buy
🫡
— Pierre Rochard (@BitcoinPierre) February 3, 2025
It’s never a good time to add ETH. Bitcoin only.
— ₿itcoin Roth₿ard (@BitcoinRothbard) February 4, 2025
Well it’s going to zero so… Have fun with that.
— Brandon (@Crypt0Jed1) February 3, 2025
Why is Eric Trump Promoting $ETH?
It is unclear why Eric chose to promote Ethereum, but his post was made just as a wallet linked to DeFi project World Liberty Financial (WLFI) moved millions worth of ETH to Coinbase Prime.
The wallet, which is being tracked by leading crypto analytics firm Arkham Intelligence, has around $33.16 million worth of cryptocurrencies, including some $9.32 million in TRON (TRX) and $15 million in USDC stablecoins as of late Monday.
Also, WLFI said earlier in the day that it was not selling any of its crypto holdings and was instead “making routine movements of our crypto holdings as part of regular treasury management, and payment of fees and expenses and to address working capital requirements.”
We’re making routine movements of our crypto holdings as part of regular treasury management, and payment of fees and expenses and to address working capital requirements. To be clear, we are not selling tokens—we are simply reallocating assets for ordinary business purposes.…
— WLFI (@worldlibertyfi) February 3, 2025
The DeFi project’s clarification came amid concerns that WLFI may have been dumping its crypto coins amid the volatile situation in the crypto market.
As per Decrypt, nearly $168 million in ETH had been moved by WLFI Monday afternoon, leading to speculation that the project may have started selling.
Notably, WLFI snapped up over a million worth of crypto assets just as Trump entered the White House for the second time last month. Of the said crypto buys, WLFI bought $47 million in Ethereum.
It remains to be seen whether WLFI, which designated the U.S. president as its “chief crypto advocate” and the three Trump brothers as Web3 ambassadors, will buy more ETH after the latest wallet move. For now, the project’s wallet only holds some 66 ETH worth over $190,000.
