Donald Trump headlined an event billed as the unveiling of a crypto platform promoted by the Republican candidate and his sons, shining a spotlight on a niche digital asset sector with a history of controversy.
The project, Liberty Global Financialwill be part of the decentralized finance segment of digital assets and is meant to help provide financial security and the ability to transact freely, Trump’s son Donald Jr. said during an X Spaces livestream Monday.
“This is a real problem that needs to be solved, and honestly, I think this is the solution,” Donald Jr. said after his father’s comments. The launch came a day after the former president escaped unscathed from an apparent second assassination attempt, the latest shock to rock the presidential campaign.
The Republican candidate has decided to court the digital asset industry in search of donations and votes in a tight race for the White House, even promising to make the United States the “cryptocurrency capital of the world.” His stance is a turnaround given that he had previously denounced Bitcoin as a “scam.”
On his goal of becoming the leading cryptocurrency hub, Donald Trump said: “If we don’t do it, China will do it. China is doing it anyway. But if we don’t do it, we’re not going to be the biggest, and we have to be the biggest and the best.”
Trump’s sons Eric and Donald Jr. have begun promoting World Liberty Financial on X and Telegram in recent weeks. Decentralized finance, or DeFi, is a mysterious crypto sector where people trade, lend, and borrow digital assets peer-to-peer using automated software.
“This effort is consistent with Trump’s pro-crypto policy stance,” said Campbell Harvey, a finance professor at Duke University. “It’s one thing to say you’re pro-crypto, and another to start a company in that space.”
The former president’s profile could introduce more people to DeFi, whose proponents often claim efficiencies from cutting out traditional middlemen like banks. Critics say the sector falls into a regulatory gray area and is prone to hacks, a major problem for crypto as a whole.
The project, Liberty Global Financialwill be part of the decentralized finance segment of digital assets and is meant to help provide financial security and the ability to transact freely, Trump’s son Donald Jr. said during an X Spaces livestream Monday.
“This is a real problem that needs to be solved, and honestly, I think this is the solution,” Donald Jr. said after his father’s comments. The launch came a day after the former president escaped unscathed from an apparent second assassination attempt, the latest shock to rock the presidential campaign.
The Republican candidate has decided to court the digital asset industry in search of donations and votes in a tight race for the White House, even promising to make the United States the “cryptocurrency capital of the world.” His stance is a turnaround given that he had previously denounced Bitcoin as a “scam.”
On his goal of becoming the leading cryptocurrency hub, Donald Trump said: “If we don’t do it, China will do it. China is doing it anyway. But if we don’t do it, we’re not going to be the biggest, and we have to be the biggest and the best.”
Trump’s sons Eric and Donald Jr. have begun promoting World Liberty Financial on X and Telegram in recent weeks. Decentralized finance, or DeFi, is a mysterious crypto sector where people trade, lend, and borrow digital assets peer-to-peer using automated software.
“This effort is consistent with Trump’s pro-crypto policy stance,” said Campbell Harvey, a finance professor at Duke University. “It’s one thing to say you’re pro-crypto, and another to start a company in that space.”
The former president’s profile could introduce more people to DeFi, whose proponents often claim efficiencies from cutting out traditional middlemen like banks. Critics say the sector falls into a regulatory gray area and is prone to hacks, a major problem for crypto as a whole.
