Former U.S. President Donald Trump, alongside his sons and key entrepreneurs, unveiled a new cryptocurrency platform late Monday, marking his venture into the digital finance space.
While the two-hour online presentation provided limited specifics, it introduced a system that allows users to purchase digital “tokens” granting voting rights in decision-making on the platform.
Despite an alleged assassination attempt on Trump at his West Palm Beach golf club just days earlier, the launch went ahead as scheduled.
The new platform, dubbed World Liberty Financial, aims to capitalize on decentralized finance (DeFi) technology, which allows transactions to occur without the need for traditional financial intermediaries like banks.
DeFi, powered by blockchain technology, ensures that transaction records are transparent and secure from tampering.
World Liberty Financial’s core service will allow users to lend and borrow cryptocurrencies directly from each other, a service similar to that offered by platforms like Aave, a prominent name in the crypto space.
During the event, Donald Trump Jr. hailed the initiative as “the start of a financial revolution,” during a session streamed on X.com.
Key figures in the project, cryptocurrency entrepreneurs Zachary Folkman and Chase Herro, revealed that the platform would rely heavily on stablecoins—digital currencies backed by traditional fiat, most commonly the U.S. dollar.
This move is intended to shield users from the extreme volatility often associated with cryptocurrencies not tied to real-world assets.
World Liberty Financial aims to make cryptocurrency more accessible to the general public, Folkman stated, focusing on creating an intuitive platform for those unfamiliar with digital finance.
The project’s governance will be partly decentralized, with 63% of the tokens to be made available to the public. These tokens will give holders a voice in platform decisions. The remaining tokens will be allocated to the founding team (20%) and to users as rewards (17%).
While a detailed timeline for the platform’s rollout was not provided, the announcement marks a significant shift in Trump’s stance on cryptocurrencies.
Once a vocal critic, calling them a “scam” during his presidency, Trump has since repositioned himself as a “pro-bitcoin president” in his ongoing 2024 presidential campaign.
This puts him in stark contrast to the Biden administration, which has expressed support for regulating the cryptocurrency sector.
As Trump steps into the digital finance world, his venture is poised to attract attention from supporters and critics alike, given the mix of politics and cryptocurrency involved.