In the end, Trump was easily convinced: Despite previously calling bitcoin a “scam,” Trump recently cast himself as the president of cryptocurrencies. 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 world” and create a “national bitcoin reserve” if re-elected. In a post on X after his speech, Tyler Winklevoss praised the former president for being “orange-booted”—a term that means “brainwashed” in cryptocurrency jargon.
Initially, when Eric and Donald Jr. began hinting at the World Liberty Financial project, there was speculation that they were preparing to launch an official Trump crypto token.
Over the past year, dozens of Trump-inspired meme coins have hit the market, becoming a sort of bellwether for the upcoming election, fluctuating with changes in Trump’s political fortunes. One such token, DJT, released in early June, saw its price skyrocket amid rumors that it originated from the Trump family. On a talk show on X, Martin Shkreli, known for his “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 plummeted 90% after large quantities were sold by an anonymous token holder. “It wasn’t me!” Shkreli said in an email to WIRED when asked if he knew who was responsible for the sale. DJT was trading at $0.0002441 per coin as of Monday.
The Trump campaign’s press office did not respond to questions about Barron’s alleged involvement in the DJT token. In a post on X before 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 Venture51.
But the Trumps don’t necessarily need to do anything new if they can capitalize on their massive public platform to sell their new venture. “(World Liberty Financial) is launching with the most free marketing a cryptocurrency company can ever get,” Hamilton says. “Trump is the king of rent-free living in people’s minds.”
DeFi industry veterans 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 collapse, or if a technical glitch were to result in financial losses.
“I applaud any effort to bring DeFi to the mainstream,” says Brad Harrison, CEO of Venus Protocol. “But like Tesla’s autopilot, DeFi may seem simple, but its inner workings are complex. Without a solid grasp of its nuances in the hands of seasoned technologists and financial engineers, a new platform risks being more of a branding exercise than a substantial and safe contribution to the space.”
Regardless of the risk of trusting a crypto platform that hasn’t been tested in the field, industry enthusiasts are likely to frequent World Liberty Financial, if only to signal their support for Trump’s political efforts. “We’re now clearly looking at crypto as a right-wing Republican commodity,” says Jacob Silverman, co-author of Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud. “The industry is very close to the Republican Party, and they are the biggest donors to any industry this cycle.”
In the minds of various British politicians who have retired from cryptocurrency-related positions, World Liberty Financial may represent Trump’s attempt to protect himself against defeat in the next election, to create a backup solution for himself.
“Maybe the raucous reception at the cryptocurrency conference in Nashville gave him the impression that this is the world he wants to be in, because people like him and he can make money,” Silverman says. “For all his flaws, he understands the audience.”
