In a livestream, Donald Trump officially launched his latest business venture, World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency company led by two relatively inexperienced entrepreneurs in the high-end business field. The launch came just one day after the former president narrowly escaped an apparent assassination attempt, and he appeared in the livestream alongside family friends and his two sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, as well as two relatively unknown cryptocurrency entrepreneurs. Together, they unveiled Trump’s cryptocurrency venture, World Liberty Financial, which has raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest and has surprised some of Trump’s most fervent supporters in the cryptocurrency industry.
Trump has been promoting this project since August, although its specific purpose remains unclear and there is currently no official launch date. In the livestream, Trump did not directly mention the specific details of the project, leaving that to the two entrepreneurs, Chase Herro and Zachary Folkman. Herro describes himself as a “bad boy of the internet,” while Folkman has taught courses on how to attract women.
The launch of a new business venture by a presidential candidate is extremely rare, especially one that clearly aims to benefit himself and his family. However, throughout his political career, Trump has often been involved in business activities that ethics experts consider problematic. Trump is the primary owner of Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of his social media platform, Truth Social, and approximately $2 billion of his personal wealth comes from this company.
Danielle Brian, the executive director of the nonprofit watchdog organization Project On Government Oversight, said that if Trump is elected in November, his involvement in the cryptocurrency business would raise serious conflicts of interest. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been cracking down on the cryptocurrency industry, considering almost all cryptocurrencies to be unregistered securities that should be regulated like stocks on Wall Street.
“He may use his influence to push regulatory agencies to favor the businesses he is involved in,” Brian said. Similar concerns have been raised by ethics experts about Trump’s ownership of a social media company. Representatives from the Trump Organization and World Liberty Financial did not respond to requests for comment.
Over the years, Trump has been skeptical of cryptocurrencies, even calling Bitcoin a “scam.” However, he gradually became a supporter of cryptocurrencies during his campaign, attending a popular industry conference and attracting donations from cryptocurrency industry executives. “What you see is a very hostile SEC,” Trump said in the livestream on Monday. “And my attitude is different.”
The planning for World Liberty Financial began nine months ago, with Steve Witkoff, a friend of the Trump family and a real estate tycoon, playing an active role in introducing Herro and Folkman to Trump’s sons, who are leading the project. In July, AMG Software Solutions, based in Puerto Rico, filed a trademark application for the platform. The following month, Trump, Eric Trump, and Donald Trump Jr. began posting content about the project on social media.
During the livestream on Monday, Trump and his sons stated that cryptocurrency would change the financial system, but they did not provide detailed information about their business project’s goals. However, according to insiders, World Liberty Financial is described as a lending platform. According to a white paper reviewed by The New York Times, the project will launch a new cryptocurrency called $WLFI and sell it to the public.
On its official social media accounts, World Liberty Financial stated that the project aims to promote the widespread adoption of stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies designed to maintain a stable value, usually pegged to $1. An insider described the project as similar to the existing service Instadapp, an application that allows users to manage investments across multiple cryptocurrency platforms.
Several members of the Trump family are involved in the business, according to the list of team members in the white paper. Trump himself holds the position of “Chief Cryptocurrency Advocate,” while his 18-year-old son, Barron Trump, is listed as a “DeFi Visionary” for the project (DeFi refers to decentralized finance). Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. serve as “Web3 Ambassadors.”
The disclaimer in the white paper states that the platform does not belong to Trump, the Trump Organization, or his family, although family members may receive compensation. (The white paper was initially reported by the cryptocurrency news website CoinDesk.)
Insiders reveal that Steve Witkoff played an active role in the project. He envisioned the project partly as a way for Barron Trump to gain entrepreneurial experience and steer him away from meme coins, a type of cryptocurrency associated with scams. A spokesperson for Witkoff declined to comment.
Barron Trump did not appear in the livestream, but Trump mentioned that his son is a cryptocurrency enthusiast. “He has four wallets,” Trump said. “He knows all about this stuff.”
The project is primarily led by Herro and Folkman. During the livestream, Herro stated that his goal is to make “every ordinary American” participate in cryptocurrency investments. “This country has been very good to me, and cryptocurrencies have been very good to me,” Herro said.
Herro is a relatively unknown figure in the cryptocurrency world. According to his account, he was previously involved in drug-related activities and served a prison sentence but later turned his life around and became successful. In 2022, he appeared at a cryptocurrency seminar hosted by Jordan Belfort, the inspiration for the movie “The Wolf of Wall Street.” Herro described stablecoins as the “biggest innovation since sliced bread” at the seminar and said his favorite coin is “vibrant, crazy, almost like a Ponzi scheme.”
Over the years, Herro has worked closely with Folkman, who previously founded a company called “Date Hotter Girls,” which offered courses on how to attract, date, and keep beautiful and high-quality women.
Before establishing companies in Puerto Rico, Herro and Folkman operated Nexus Group, an internet advertising and media company that enjoyed similar tax advantages in the US Virgin Islands. Herro also operated a cryptocurrency trading company called Pacer Capital there.
During the livestream, Folkman stated that due to the government’s crackdown on cryptocurrencies, the digital currency associated with World Liberty Financial would only be open to qualified investors. He added that lawyers are “watching me nervously.”
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Original article link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/16/technology/trump-crypto-world-liberty-finan…
Note: The views expressed in Bitpush articles are solely those of the authors and do not constitute investment advice.
