As it turned out, Trump was easily convinced: despite having previously dismissed Bitcoin as a “scam”, Trump has recently resorted to throwing himself In July, speaking to thousands of Bitcoiners at a conference in Nashville, Tennessee, Trump promised to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet” and establish a “national bitcoin reserve” if re-elected. Post on X After the speech, Tyler Winklevoss celebrated the fact that the former president had been “indoctrinated” (orange pilled, in crypto jargon, means “indoctrinated”).
Initially, when Eric and Donald Jr. began hinting at the World Liberty Financial project, there was speculation They were preparing to launch an official Trump crypto token.
Over the past year, dozens of Trump-inspired memecoins have hit the market, becoming a sort of barometer of the upcoming election and fluctuating in price along with changes in Trump’s political fortunes. One such token, DJT, issued in early June, went up in price amid rumors that it originated with the Trump family. In a Broadcast on XMartin Shkreli, known as the “pharma bro,” claimed to have created the token in partnership with Barron Trump, the former president’s 18-year-old son. On August 6, the price of DJT sank by 90 percent after an anonymous token holder sold large amounts. “It wasn’t me!” Shkreli said in an email to WIRED, when asked if he knew who was responsible for the sell-off. DJT was priced at $0.0002441 per coin on Monday.
The Trump campaign press office did not respond to questions about Barron’s alleged involvement with the DJT token. Post on X In the run-up to World Liberty Financial’s announcement, Donald Jr. warned his followers to “beware of fake tokens claiming to be part of the Trump project.”
World Liberty Financial will face stiff competition in a DeFi market already crowded with similar services, including Aave, Compound, Venus Protocol and others. “DeFi is pretty mature, especially on the overcollateralization side,” says Zach Hamilton, founder of crypto startup Sarcophagus and venture partner at venture capital firm Venture51.
But the Trumps don’t have to do anything new if they can leverage their massive public platform to promote their new venture. “[World Liberty Financial]is launching with the most free marketing that any cryptocurrency company could ever get,” Hamilton says. “Trump is the king of rent-free living in people’s minds.”
Traditional players in the DeFi industry are cautiously optimistic about the prospect of the Trump family’s arrival, both happy about the publicity and wary of the reputational damage World Liberty Financial could cause if it were to fail or if a technical error resulted in financial losses.
“I applaud any effort to mainstream DeFi,” says Brad Harrison, CEO of Venus Protocol. “But like a Tesla’s autopilot, DeFi may appear simple, but its inner workings are complex. Without a solid understanding of its nuances in the hands of experienced financial technologists and engineers, a new platform risks being more of a branding exercise than a substantial, secure contribution to the space.”
Regardless of the risk involved in placing trust in a cryptocurrency platform that has yet to be battle-tested, industry enthusiasts are likely to patronize World Liberty Financial if only to show their support for Trump’s political efforts. “We’re definitely now dealing with cryptocurrencies as a product of the Republican right,” says Jacob Silverman, co-author of Easy money: cryptocurrencies, casino capitalism and the golden age of fraud. “The industry is very aligned with the Republican Party and they are the largest donors of any industry this cycle.”
In the spirit of Several British politicians Who has Retired in crypto positionsWorld Liberty Financial could represent an attempt by Trump to protect himself against defeat in the next election, thus creating a backup alternative.
“Maybe the raucous reception at the Nashville crypto conference gave him the impression that this is the world he wants to be in, because he’s loved and can make money,” Silverman says. “For all his flaws, he understands the crowd.”