PALM BEACH, Fla. — Apex Group, a global financial services provider overseeing more than $3.5 trillion in assets, has partnered with the crypto firm affiliated with U.S. President Donald Trump, to pilot the use of a stablecoin in traditional fund operations, the companies announced at the World Liberty Forum at Mar-a-Lago on Wednesday.
The collaboration focuses on WLFI’s USD1 stablecoin, which Apex will test as a means of payment for subscriptions, redemptions and distributions in its tokenized funds ecosystem, it said in a press release. Apex, which provides administrative and operational services to a broad client base including hedge funds, pension funds, banks and family offices, said its aim was to improve settlement speed and reduce operational costs for institutional clients.
Zach Witkoff, co-founder and CEO of World Liberty, called the USD1 infrastructure a future financial services ecosystem during his forum keynote.
The company is increasingly active in the digital assets space, using blockchain to tokenize a portion of the funds it services. Tokenizing funds, or issuing shares on blockchain rails, can help companies streamline reporting, reduce fees, and reach a broader investor base.
In May, Apex deepened its focus on blockchain by acquiring Tokeny, a Luxembourg-based company known for building infrastructure to issue and manage real-world assets (RWA) on-chain. It also acquired Globacap, a London-based investment platform with a U.S.-registered broker, expanding Apex’s ability to tokenize regulated securities in the U.S., where interest in blockchain-based RWAs is growing among asset managers.
Apex CEO Peter Hughes said in a statement that customers “increasingly want blockchain-based solutions that deliver tangible benefits and cost savings.”
As part of the WLFI collaboration, Apex will also explore the possibility of making WLFI tokenized assets, such as real estate and infrastructure, available on the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) digital market infrastructure platform, subject to regulatory approval. WLFI has announced plans to launch a mobile application that connects traditional bank accounts to digital asset wallets and allows users to access these tokenized holdings.
