Trump-linked fintech sells core unit after spectacular slide

AI Financial Corp has sold its main operating subsidiary for a $12 million secured promissory note and shares in the buyer, marking a dramatic reversal for a fintech company that surged past a $1 billion market valuation after tying its fortunes to the Trump family’s cryptocurrency venture.

The Las Vegas-based company, formerly known as ALT5 Sigma Corp, completed the sale of Quebec-based ALT 5 Sigma Canada Inc to privately held Prime Delta Corp on August 3. AI Financial will receive a $12 million secured note and 11,551,750 restricted Prime Delta shares as consideration.

The arrangement does not provide AI Financial with $12 million in immediate cash. Prime Delta is due to pay $1 million on August 11, while the remaining $11 million will be repaid through amounts equivalent to 20% of post-closing equity financings or through four annual instalments of $2.75 million beginning in August 2027. The note carries annual interest of 4% and is secured against Prime Delta’s assets.

The disposal comes less than a year after ALT5 Sigma became one of the most prominent listed companies associated with World Liberty Financial, the cryptocurrency business co-founded by members of President Donald Trump’s family.

That transformation began in August 2025 when ALT5 Sigma raised $750 million through new shares and used $717 million of the proceeds to acquire World Liberty’s WLFI tokens. Investor enthusiasm surrounding the arrangement sent the fintech’s shares sharply higher and briefly pushed its market capitalisation above $1 billion.

Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr subsequently appeared at Nasdaq in New York following completion of the transaction, giving the small fintech exposure far beyond its previous profile. The partnership was presented as a route for stock-market investors to gain exposure to digital assets through a publicly traded company.

The enthusiasm proved short-lived. ALT5 Sigma shares, which traded above $9 during August 2025, had fallen to about 75 cents by April this year. The decline erased hundreds of millions of dollars in shareholder value and broadly tracked the steep fall in WLFI tokens held by the company.

The company changed its name to AI Financial in April as part of an effort to reposition itself as a broader financial platform. Its problems nevertheless deepened as falling cryptocurrency valuations hit its balance sheet.

AI Financial reported a loss from continuing operations of about $271.3 million for the quarter ended March 28. It also had a working-capital deficit of approximately $5.5 million, with current liabilities of $39.1 million against current assets of $32.2 million. The figures prompted warnings about its financial position and ability to sustain operations without improvements in liquidity and financing.

Its WLFI holdings were a major factor in the deterioration. The company had accumulated billions of World Liberty tokens at a cost approaching $1.46 billion, only for their fair value to fall substantially as the cryptocurrency retreated from its earlier levels.

AI Financial has maintained that it sees WLFI as a strategic balance-sheet asset. By June, the company valued those holdings at about $380 million, underscoring the scale of the change since its cryptocurrency treasury strategy was launched.

The share-price collapse has also created a Nasdaq listing problem. AI Financial was notified on July 1 that its stock had traded below the exchange’s $1 minimum closing-bid requirement for 30 consecutive business days. It has until December 28 to regain compliance by maintaining a closing price of at least $1 for a minimum of 10 consecutive business days.

The sale to Prime Delta followed the collapse of an earlier attempt to dispose of ALT 5 Sigma Canada. Perpetuals. com had been discussing an acquisition of the subsidiary, potentially valuing the transaction at up to $15 million, but abandoned the proposal in July.

World Liberty Financial remains central to AI Financial’s unusual trajectory. The Trump family’s cryptocurrency venture has generated substantial proceeds through sales of WLFI governance tokens while attracting scrutiny over the intersection of presidential politics, digital-asset regulation and private commercial interests.

More than $500 million from ALT5 Sigma’s $717 million purchase of World Liberty tokens flowed to the Trump family through its revenue-sharing arrangements with the cryptocurrency venture. World Liberty and the Trump family have rejected allegations that their business relationships create improper conflicts, while the White House has maintained that the president’s actions are undertaken in the public interest.