Former President Donald Trump on Monday headlined an online event announcing a new cryptocurrency business with ties to his family, ratcheting up his own business interests as he makes his third bid for the White House.
During the livestream, President Trump discussed the second assassination attempt and attacked the Biden-Harris administration over border security while also talking about the future of cryptocurrencies, without directly mentioning a new crypto company called World Liberty Financial.
“If we don't do it, China will. China is doing it anyway. But if we don't do it, we can't be the biggest. We have to be the biggest and the best,” Trump said during a conversation with cryptocurrency enthusiast and investor Farokh Sarmad. The two spoke at Trump's Mar-a-Lago country club in Palm Beach, Florida.
During his campaign, Trump made a number of pro-crypto positions, from promising to ease federal regulations on digital currencies to creating a strategic reserve for Bitcoin. Earlier this month, Trump said he would make the United States the “cryptocurrency and Bitcoin capital of the world.”
The push for cryptocurrencies marks a complete about-face for Trump, who was once a vocal critic of cryptocurrencies but is now desperate for campaign funds and votes in a fierce race for the White House.
Trump said he “wasn't that interested” in cryptocurrency at first, but sales of Trump-branded digital trading cards (non-fungible tokens, known as NFTs) depicting him dancing, wearing a superhero suit and holding bitcoin opened his eyes to its potential. Trump made about $7.2 million through NFT licensing deals in 2023, according to a financial disclosure he filed in August.
Cryptocurrencies are a form of digital money that can be traded outside the internet and the international banking system. Millions of Americans invest in or trade them, and they have gained widespread acceptance among people wary of government interference, but they are most popular among young men.
“I think kids have opened my eyes more than anything,” Trump said.
What is World Liberty Financial? What is DeFi?
No details were available during Monday night's livestream.
World Liberty Financial has its own crypto token, or “stablecoin,” whose value is pegged to the value of the US Dollar. A stablecoin is a cryptocurrency that is pegged to an asset, such as the US Dollar, to maintain a stable price.
According to World Liberty Financial, only accredited investors will be able to purchase the tokens. About 63% of the tokens will be sold to the public. 20% of the shares will be held by the Trump family and insiders, and 17% will be reserved as rewards for users.
In recent weeks, Trump's two eldest sons have spoken with World Liberty Financial but offered few details. Eric Trump said the company would promote “financial independence,” while Donald Trump Jr. said it would “Make Finance Great Again.”
“We are embracing the future with cryptocurrency and leaving slow, outdated big banks behind,” Trump said in a video clip posted to his X account last week to promote Monday's livestream.
World Liberty Financial embraces “DeFi,” which stands for decentralized finance, which refers to people borrowing, lending or making other transactions without the involvement of an intermediary such as a bank or stock exchange.
President Trump, whose net worth is estimated at $3.9 billion by Forbes magazine, has promoted DeFi as a way to stop “big banks and the financial elite” from squeezing ordinary Americans.
“This is a real problem that needs to be addressed and I honestly think this is the solution,” Donald Trump Jr. said Monday night.
Steve Witkoff, a real estate investor and friend of President Trump, said DeFi could make the financial world more equal by helping people who struggle to get loans or who don't have bank accounts.
Crypto advocates say DeFi allows for greater participation than the traditional financial system, while regulators and critics warn that DeFi is largely unregulated and offers few consumer protections. Stablecoins have also been used for illegal activities such as terrorism and drug trafficking.
Some crypto observers said the project raised ethical red flags.
“From what I've seen, it doesn't appear to have top-tier talent in place in terms of security, economic design, or operations,” said Austin Campbell, a consultant, professor and author who has been in the crypto industry since 2018. “I can't in good faith encourage anyone to put money into or use this.”
According to an internal report obtained by cryptocurrency news site CoinDesk, Witkoff is one of the founders of World Liberty Financial, whose other founders include Trump's three sons, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Barron Trump, as well as Witkoff's son, Alex.
Witkoff said his son introduced him to cryptocurrency entrepreneur Chase Herro and Herro's business partner Zach Folkman, who Witkoff then introduced to the Trumps.
Trump's role at World Liberty Financial is unclear, except that internal reports describe him as the “chief cryptocurrency advocate.”
How President Trump became a cryptocurrency supporter
President Trump's announcement signals that digital currencies are moving into the American mainstream as they garner support from Wall Street financial institutions and business figures like Elon Musk.
Cryptocurrency observers say Trump's involvement could broaden its appeal.
“This could be a good thing for crypto in that it will impact a wide demographic that is very skeptical of crypto and has never used it,” said Kim So-young, author of “DeFi For Dummies” and an associate professor of finance at Santa Clara University's Leavey School of Business. “Many more people who otherwise wouldn't have dabbled in anything crypto-related might suddenly open a Coinbase account and buy crypto without even knowing what it is.”
Trump's own views on cryptocurrencies have changed dramatically in recent years: During his presidency, he spoke out against cryptocurrencies and later said Bitcoin was “like a scam.”
In 2019, President Trump tweeted that cryptocurrencies “are not money” and their value is “highly volatile and unfounded,” and warned that digital currencies “may facilitate illegal activity, including drug trafficking and other illegal activities.”
As the Republican nominee, Trump has warmed to the industry, pledging to be a “cryptocurrency president” during a fundraiser with tech executives in San Francisco.
“If cryptocurrency defines the future, I want it to be mined, minted and manufactured in America,” President Trump said recently at the industry's largest annual gathering.
Trump sells everything from Trump-branded Bibles to sneakers and has mixed business and political interests, raising fresh concerns that he would use the presidency to expand his family's businesses if re-elected.
“There's a conflict of interest at play: Trump is touting his family's cryptocurrency support just under two months before an election that, if won, would ultimately give him regulatory power over the crypto markets,” Tim O'Brien, senior editor at Bloomberg Opinion, wrote in an X article.
The cryptocurrency industry is one of the highest spending industries in the 2024 election cycle.
Industry-funded political action committees have raised more than $170 million to elect crypto-friendly candidates, and Trump said in May that his campaign would accept crypto donations to rally support for the “crypto army.”
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Potential hack sparks concerns for Trump's crypto companies
Not everyone in the crypto industry is a fan of Trump's new crypto venture.
“One risk Trump will have to consider is the possibility of being hacked, which would be bad publicity for a project in general but especially pre-election,” said Michelle Knights, a visiting professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law and founding director of the Center for Law, Technology and Public Outreach. “The project would attract a lot of attention, and these high-profile projects are often targets for hackers.”
Unauthorized posts recently appeared on the X accounts of Trump's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, and her daughter, Tiffany Trump, directing readers to a fake website for World Liberty Financial.
Prior to the announcement, the company's X account profile had warned: “Beware of scams! Fake token and airdrop offers circulating. Not live yet!”
Corey Kaplan, an adviser at World Liberty Financial, said security is a top priority.
Nick Carter, a cryptocurrency investor who supports Trump, warned on X that World Liberty Financial will become “the most attractive DeFi target ever” for hackers.
“Trump's project will inevitably attract intense scrutiny, and the backgrounds of those involved make it seem unlikely that it would be well-equipped to stand up to sophisticated nation-state hackers,” Carter told USA Today.
