- Former President Donald Trump wants your vote and is reaching out to everyone, including his crypto friends.
- The Republican candidate sat down for a 30-minute interview on Monday about the “state of cryptocurrencies.”
- Trump also promoted a new family business, a crypto platform called World Liberty Financial.
Former President Donald Trump is taking his courtship of the cryptocurrency industry to the next level.
During Monday night's X Spaces livestream, the Republican presidential candidate spoke for about 30 minutes with internet personality and Web3 influencer Farooq Sarmad about the “state of cryptocurrencies.”
Referring to the mainstreaming of cryptocurrencies, President Trump told Sarmad, “If we don't do it, China will.'' “We have to be the biggest and the best.
Ahead of Monday's livestream, President Trump said he would use the event to launch his latest venture, a new crypto banking platform called World Liberty Financial.
But in the end, more than an hour and a half into the event, World Liberty Financial was discussed by Chase Herro, a self-proclaimed “internet trash bag,” and a longtime friend of President Trump. It was Zach Witkoff, son of donor Steve Witkoff. .
In addition to Herro and Witkoff, Trump's sons Donald Jr., Eric and Barron are also involved in the venture, a cryptocurrency business focused on decentralized finance, known as “DeFi.” I am doing it.
The extent of the former president's involvement in World Liberty Financial is still unclear, but a person familiar with the project told CNBC that Trump has not been very involved so far. The New York Times reported that President Trump holds the title of “Chief Cryptocurrency Defender.”
Details about the company remain scant. A small group of Trump family members and insiders will own 70% of the startup, according to CNBC. The startup allows users to lend and borrow cryptocurrencies while paying fees to the original investors.
President Trump's sons Eric and Don Jr. have been teasing the launch of World Liberty Financial for several weeks, posting about it on X and linking to a Telegram page with information about the project.
The venture comes amid Trump's increasing efforts to court the crypto crowd — a courtship that has led Trump to become a bonafide virtual currency, as BI's Kenneth Niemeyer wrote in July. It led to supporters of the currency.
Back in May, President Trump called himself a crypto candidate while hocking an NFT featuring a photo of himself, while also calling President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party “very opposed” to cryptocurrencies. criticized.
During a livestream on Monday, Trump credited the change in his view of cryptocurrencies to the positive response to NFTs. The Republican candidate also cited his three sons for helping him learn about digital currencies.
At the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville in July, President Trump referred to cryptocurrencies as “the steel industry of 100 years ago.” He also promised a number of crypto industry leaders that he would “ensure that the United States is the crypto capital of the planet and the world's Bitcoin superpower,” adding, He also promised to create a stockpile.
“I want to make sure it's good and solid and everything else is good, but this is enough for me,” the former president said at the time. “If you support cryptocurrencies, you should vote for Trump.”
As November approaches, President Trump is betting that all his crypto persuasion will pay off at the ballot box.
During a livestream on Monday, Trump took a menacing approach, urging crypto enthusiasts to vote for him to avoid incurring the hostility of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
“If for some reason bad things happen and we don't win the election, the people who were being investigated in the crypto world are going to live in hell,” Trump said.
Analysts say Bitcoin could soar to $125,000 by the end of the year if Trump wins, but only to $75,000 if Kamala Harris wins. It is estimated that there is.
But Trump hasn't always been enthusiastic about cryptocurrencies.
President Trump said during his time in office that he “doesn't like” cryptocurrencies, saying their “value is very volatile and based on thin air.” In 2021, President Trump twice told Fox Business that it was “like a scam” and that investing in cryptocurrencies was “a disaster that's about to happen.”