As it turned out, Trump was easily convinced: despite previously dismissing Bitcoin as “fraud“Trump recently made a decision throwing oneself as crypto president. In July, speaking to thousands of bitcoiners at a conference in Nashville, Tennessee, Trump promised that if re-elected, the United States would become the “crypto capital of the planet” and create a national “bitcoin supply.” In write to X After his speech, Tyler Winklevoss celebrated the fact that the former president had been “orange-pilled” — a slang term for “indoctrinated.”
Initially, when Eric and Donald Jr. first started talking about the World Liberty Financial project, speculation were preparing to launch Trump’s official crypto token.
Dozens of Trump-themed memecoins have emerged in the past year and have become something of an election indicator, with their price fluctuating with changes in Trump’s political fortunes. One such token, DJT, released in early June, the price has gone up amid rumors that it comes from the Trump family. In broadcast on XMartin Shkreli, of “pharma bro” fame, claimed to have created the token in partnership with Barron Trump, the former president’s 18-year-old son. On August 6, DJT price dropped by 90 percent after gigantic quantities were sold by an anonymous token holder. “It wasn’t me!” Shkreli told WIRED in an email when asked if he knew who was responsible for the sell-off. DJT was trading at $0.0002441 per coin on Monday.
The Trump campaign press office did not respond to questions about Barron’s alleged involvement in the DJT token. write to X Before announcing the creation of World Liberty Financial, Donald Jr. warned supporters to “beware of fake tokens claiming to be part of the Trump project.”
World Liberty Financial will face stiff competition in a DeFi market that’s already crowded with similar services, including Aave, Compound, Venus Protocol, and others. “DeFi is pretty mature, especially on the over-collateralization side,” says Zach Hamilton, founder of crypto startup Sarcophagus and a venture partner at VC firm Venture51.
But the Trumps don’t necessarily have to be doing something groundbreaking if they can use their massive public platform to promote a new venture.[World Liberty Financial] is launching with the most free marketing any cryptocurrency company could get,” Hamilton says. “Trump is the king of rent-free living in people’s minds.”
DeFi investors are cautiously sanguine about the arrival of the Trump family, excited by the publicity but worried about the damage to World Liberty Financial’s reputation if it were to go under or suffer a technical issue that led to financial losses.
“I welcome any attempt to bring DeFi into the mainstream,” says Brad Harrison, CEO of Venus Protocol. “But like Tesla’s autopilot, DeFi may look simple but its inner workings are complex. Without a solid understanding of the nuances in the hands of experienced technologists and financial engineers, a new platform risks being more of a branding exercise than a meaningful and safe contribution to the space.”
Regardless of the risks of trusting a cryptocurrency platform that hasn’t been tested in combat, industry enthusiasts are likely to patronize World Liberty Financial, if only to signal support for Trump’s political endeavors. “We’re definitely dealing with cryptocurrency as a right-wing Republican commodity now,” says Jacob Silverman, co-author Uncomplicated Money: Cryptocurrencies, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Scams. “The industry is very much aligned with the Republican Party, which is the largest donor to any industry this term.”
In the spirit various british politicians who has moved to cryptography positionsWorld Liberty Financial may be an attempt by Trump to protect himself from defeat in the upcoming election and provide himself with an alternative occupation.
“Maybe the hype at the crypto conference in Nashville gave him the impression that he wanted to be in that world because they loved him and he could make money,” Silverman says. “For all his flaws, he understands the crowd.”