World Liberty Financial has appointed former Coinbase executive Ryan Ballantyne as chief business officer, adding a Wall Street veteran as the Trump-family-linked crypto venture pushes beyond decentralized finance into tokenized real estate and a proposed banking buildout. The company said Ballantyne brings 30 years of experience across asset management, derivatives, capital markets and digital assets, and that he most recently served as head of Corporate Client Strategy at Coinbase. The appointment comes as World Liberty Financial expands after saying in July that its $WLFI Markets lending product had supplied more than $310 million in the first half of the year, launched its USD1 stablecoin on Solana and hosted a World Liberty Forum at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club. The firm has also said it filed for a national trust bank charter, underscoring plans to move beyond pure DeFi toward banking-related activities. World Liberty Financial has also been building a presence in tokenized real estate. In February, it enlisted Securitize to structure and issue tokens to accredited investors tied to loan revenue from a Trump International hotel project in the Maldives. Ballantyne’s role has not been detailed, though the chief business officer title points to oversight of partnerships, revenue growth and institutional relationships. The hire lands amid scrutiny after a New York Times investigation said World Liberty Financial received $100 million from Guren "Bobby" Zhou, a suspect in a U.K. money-laundering scheme who has not been charged. The report said a company owned by members of the Trump family would receive $75 million of that amount. World Liberty spokesman David Wachsman said the company complied with relevant laws. WLFI was recently trading at $0.0549, giving it a market capitalization of about $1.74 billion, down 88% from its record high of $0.46 after touching a record low of $0.0508 on Aug. 9.