By The New York Times

September 13, 2024

Former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), appear on the first night of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on July 15, 2024. Trump said on Thursday, Sept. 13, that he was preparing to unveil a new cryptocurrency business, as his presidential campaign aggressively courts the multibillion-dollar crypto industry in the run-up to November’s election. (Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times)

• Trump to launch World Liberty Financial, a crypto platform, during his presidential campaign amid concerns of conflicts of interest.
• Crypto executives like the Winklevoss twins support Trump’s campaign, with pro-crypto PACs raising millions for elections.
• Critics worry Trump’s crypto venture could lead to legal trouble or damage his electoral prospects if compromised.

Former President Donald Trump said Thursday that he was preparing to unveil a new cryptocurrency business, as his presidential campaign aggressively courts the multibillion-dollar crypto industry in the run-up to November’s election.

In a video posted on social platform X, Trump said he would be introducing the crypto platform, World Liberty Financial, in a livestream at 8 p.m. Monday. “We’re embracing the future with crypto, and leaving the slow and outdated big banks behind,” he said.

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Announcement Light on Details

The announcement was light on details and did not explain the extent of his connection to the project. Two of his sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., have promoted World Liberty Financial in recent weeks, posting links to a channel on messaging app Telegram that provides updates on the project.

A post on World Liberty Financial’s Telegram channel Thursday said that Trump would appear on the livestream from Mar-a-Lago, his country club in Palm Beach, Florida. “Get ready as we unveil our plan to Make Finance Great Again,” the post said.

It’s unusual for presidential candidates to start new businesses in the middle of a campaign, and Trump’s business interests have raised concerns about conflicts of interest throughout his political career. He also owns a large stake in Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of conservative social media platform Truth Social. The company’s stock has plunged in recent weeks, reducing the value of his stake by billions of dollars.

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World Liberty Financial is Trump’s latest effort to ingratiate himself with the crypto industry. On the campaign trail, he has vowed to end a crackdown on the industry by the U.S. government, which has pushed for stricter regulations on digital currencies. In July, Trump spoke at the annual Bitcoin conference in Nashville, Tennessee, one of the largest crypto gatherings of the year, promising to make the United States “the crypto capital of the planet.”

Crypto Executives Already Back Trump

The pitch appears to be working. Several prominent crypto executives, including Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, founders of the Gemini exchange, have donated to Trump’s election effort. A super PAC funded by the industry, Fairshake, has raised more than $150 million to elect pro-crypto candidates in congressional races, supporting a mix of Democrats and Republicans.

Trump was not always a crypto booster. In 2021, he said that bitcoin “seems like a scam.” But his views appear to have shifted during the campaign. This year, he hosted an event at Mar-a-Lago for people who bought a line of non-fungible tokens, the crypto collectibles known as NFTs, which he released.

It’s unclear exactly what World Liberty Financial is designed to accomplish. A copy of the project’s white paper, obtained by crypto news website CoinDesk, said it would provide a borrowing and lending service, with its own crypto token.

Representatives for World Liberty Financial and the Trump campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

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Embrace of Crypto Makes Trump Popular in That World

Trump’s embrace of crypto has made him hugely popular among digital currency investors. But his family’s promotion of World Liberty Financial has drawn a mixed reaction in the crypto world.

“It genuinely damages trump’s electoral prospects, especially if it gets hacked,” crypto venture investor Nic Carter wrote on X this month. “At best it’s an unnecessary distraction, at worst it’s a huge embarrassment and source of (additional) legal trouble.”

The project has already become a target for hackers and scammers. This month, unauthorized posts appeared on the X accounts of Lara Trump, Trump’s daughter-in-law, and Tiffany Trump, his younger daughter. The posts directed viewers to a fake version of World Liberty Financial’s website

“This is a scam!!!” Eric Trump wrote on X. “@LaraLeaTrump and @TiffanyATrump‘s Twitter profiles have been compromised!!”

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By David Yaffe-Bellany/Haiyun Jiang
c. 2024 The New York Times Company