Trump Keeps Teasing His New Crypto Project, but Details Remain Scant
The Trump family has for weeks loudly – but coyly – said they’re getting into crypto. More information might finally be coming soon.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump said he’ll have more to say this afternoon about his mysterious upcoming cryptocurrency project, World Liberty Financial.
Trump posted a video clip to X on Thursday morning, tagging World Liberty Financial saying: “This afternoon I’m laying out my plan to ensure that the United States will be the crypto capital of the planet. They want to choke you, they want to choke you out of business. We’re not going to let that happen.”
Though ostensibly a teaser for World Liberty Financial, Trump’s comments are not new – the video recycles audio from Trump’s 50-minute speech at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville in July. Trump’s speech in Nashville was about his plan to make the U.S. a crypto hub if reelected president.
What’s known about Trump’s crypto and DeFi plans
The details about the project have so far been scant.
The project appears to be spearheaded by Trump’s second son, Eric Trump, an executive vice president of his family’s holding company, the Trump Organization. On Aug. 6, Eric Trump posted on X that he had “truly fallen in love with Crypto/DeFi” and urged his followers to “stay tuned for a big announcement,” tagging both his father and older brother Don Jr. in the post.
The following week, Eric Trump gave an interview to the New York Post where he further teased the project, hinting that it could be a way for people to access loans without going through the traditional banking system, but declined to share any specific details.
“Essentially over half this country right now cannot be banked,” Eric Trump told the newspaper. “Meaning they will be rejected for most loans from most institutions. But with this technology they could have the ability to almost instantaneously be approved or denied from a lender based on math, not policy.”
On Aug. 23, Trump announced the name of the project – then called “The DeFiant Ones” – on Truth Social, writing: “For too long, the average American has been squeezed by the big banks and financial elites. It’s time we take a stand – together.” The post also contained a link to a Telegram group for the project, which currently has nearly 54,000 members.
Five days later, Eric Trump took to X to announce that the project had been renamed World Liberty Financial. “Excited to announce the launch of @WorldLibertyFi!,” Eric Trump wrote. “A new era in finance is here.”
In the absence of details about the project from the Trump family, scammers and chancers have capitalized on crypto users’ enthusiasm – and confusion – about the forthcoming project, offering coins purportedly connected to Trump and World Liberty Financial.
“If it’s not from us, it’s not real,” Trump’s team warned the project’s followers in the official Telegram channel.
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Cheyenne Ligon is a CoinDesk news reporter with a focus on crypto regulation and policy. She has no significant crypto holdings.
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