The Trumps Have Gone Full Crypto With World Liberty Financial (wired.com)
- Reference: 0175013231
- News link: https://politics.slashdot.org/story/24/09/17/0449227/the-trumps-have-gone-full-crypto-with-world-liberty-financial
- Source link: https://www.wired.com/story/trump-world-liberty-financial-crypto-defi/
> Eric and Donald Trump Jr., the sons of former president Donald Trump, have pledged to "make finance great again" with a [1]new family-run crypto endeavor called World Liberty Financial . Introduced in a meandering livestream on X Monday, the Trump family and their associates described [2]World Liberty Financial as a crypto platform that would let users conduct transactions without a bank sitting in the middle and extracting fees -- a concept known as decentralized finance, or DeFi. While short on details, Donald Trump, Jr. and Eric Trump both stressed repeatedly that World Liberty Financial's primary goal was to make DeFi more broadly accessible. "It's truly our job to make it understandable," said Eric Trump during the livestream. "We have to make it intuitive, we have to make it user-friendly, and we will." Former President Donald Trump joined the call as well, stressing his pro-crypto stance. "I do believe in it," said Trump of cryptocurrency generally. "It has a chance to really be something special."
>
> The Trumps aren't alone in leading World Liberty Financial. They're joined by crypto veterans Chase Herro and Zak Folkman, as well as Steve Witkoff, a real estate investor and friend of Donald Trump's. In addition to the platform itself, World Liberty Financial will come with a governance token, WLFI, which will provide owners the right to vote "on matters of the platform." Approximately 63 percent of the tokens will be sold to the public; 17 percent are set aside for user rewards, and 20 percent will be reserved for World Liberty Financial team compensation. [...] World Liberty Financial will face steep competition in a DeFi market already crowded with similar services, among them Aave, Compound, Venus Protocol, and others. "DeFi is pretty mature, especially on the over-collateralized side," says Zach Hamilton, founder of crypto startup Sarcophagus and venture partner at VC firm Venture51. But the Trumps need not necessarily do anything novel, if they can capitalize on their mammoth public platform to peddle the new venture. "[World Liberty Financial] is launching with the most free marketing that any crypto company could ever get," says Hamilton. "Trump is the king of living rent free in people's minds."
"I welcome any effort to bring DeFi into the mainstream," says Brad Harrison, CEO of Venus Protocol. "But like the autopilot in a Tesla, DeFi may give the appearance of something that's simple, but the inner workings are complex. Without a solid grasp of its nuances in the hands of seasoned technologists and financial engineers, a new platform risks being more of a branding exercise than a substantive and safe contribution to the space."
[1] https://www.wired.com/story/trump-world-liberty-financial-crypto-defi/
[2] https://worldlibertyfinance.org/
Free advice (Score:3)
My instinct is to run away from this as fast as I can. I believe crypto is bad enough on its own, but one run by these people, what can go wrong ?
Re: Free advice (Score:5, Insightful)
I mean, no shit. The trumps have had endless problems getting their dodgy money through banks. More and more banks are refusing to do business with them, so theyâ(TM)re trying to make sure thereâ(TM)s ways for them to get their Russian money and then convert it to dollars reliably.
Re: (Score:2)
If so, why aren't they simply using one of the gazillion cryptos already existing? Some are barely traceable, and can then be converted to USDT or other USD pegged crypto, then exchanged for real money.
I suspect it to be one more scheme to finance their father's legal troubles with the fool's money voting for the Donald, after the book and the running shoes...
Re: (Score:2)
They want to pump and dump. If they create the "currency", they are in at the lowest level...
Re: (Score:2)
> If so, why aren't they simply using one of the gazillion cryptos already existing? Some are barely traceable, and can then be converted to USDT or other USD pegged crypto, then exchanged for real money. I suspect it to be one more scheme to finance their father's legal troubles with the fool's money voting for the Donald, after the book and the running shoes...
Yup. When looking at Trump business dealings, you have to consider where the grift is. They aren't going to do any business deal that doesn't allow them to skim a little off the top, and in a crypto scheme, who knows how much that little off the top actually is? It's custom made for their style of "business."
Re: (Score:2)
I figured they'd just use Tether, like all the other people doing business with Russia today.
MAGA Customers (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem is the key market for this grift is MAGA folks.
They understand giving up their hard earned cash for sneakers and bibles and gold coins with their Dear Leader Trump's face on them, but it's a tough stretch for Billy Bob and Mary Sue to understand and buy this "Internet Money."
Re:MAGA Customers (Score:4, Insightful)
> They understand giving up their hard earned cash for sneakers and bibles and gold coins with their Dear Leader Trump's face on them, but it's a tough stretch for Billy Bob and Mary Sue to understand and buy this "Internet Money."
If the Great Leader tells them it's good, they'll buy it.
Re: (Score:2)
"because everyone who disagrees with me politically is a MORON!"
Very insightful.
Re: (Score:2)
MAGAs screwing over MAGAs? Oh the horror! And then they'll blame it on Haitian's "eating my bits".
Re: (Score:2)
It's just a donation with some vague hope of getting rich attached, like a raffle ticket.
Re: (Score:2)
Or stock trading.
Re: (Score:2)
Wait, you think the people that don't like cheap chinese t-shirts but love cheap chinese t-shirts with Trump's face on, will have a problem moving from "Internet money" to "Internet Trump money"? Trump is behind it, it MUST work. In fact it must be the best internet money of all times, gotta get in on the floor.
Re: (Score:2)
Previously, when they buy things their Dear Leader tells them to buy they actually get something. A Chinese-made red hat. Gold sneakers. Gold coins.
Even when they bought NFT "playing cards" they got some cool pictures of their beloved Trump that they could look at and show to others in the cult.
But Trump Crypto? There is nothing tangible. Nothing to wear, handle or show. I think it will be harder convincing them, particularly as many of them have already given much of their disposable income to pay f
DJT Media stock (Score:2)
> Previously, when they buy things their Dear Leader tells them to buy they actually get something. A Chinese-made red hat. Gold sneakers. Gold coins.
> But Trump Crypto? There is nothing tangible. Nothing to wear, handle or show. I think it will be harder convincing them, particularly as many of them have already given much of their disposable income to pay for his lawyers etc. so many of them are tapped out.
This is especially true for everyone that invested in [1]DJT Media stock, [yahoo.com] (Truth Social .com).
currently trading at:
$16.67
-0.61
(-3.54%)
[1] https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/DJT/
Re: (Score:1)
Do you sit around clicking refresh until a crypto story comes up, so you can post this again?
Get ./ to put a filter, dufus! (Score:2)
>> by Black Parrot ( 19622 )
>> Do you sit around clicking refresh until a crypto story comes up, so you can post this again?
> Ok, boomer.
+1
If all you crypto boys are tired of us (proud) 'nocoiners' posting about your various shitcoins, then get ./ to put in a 'cryptocurrency' story filer so we don't even see those stories - you know, the thing we've [1]been asking for for years now [slashdot.org]
.
[1] https://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=20564675&cid=62154463
Re: (Score:2)
The long-term grift you posit would be more plausible if the short-term grift were not so obvious, which is that cryptocurrency puts a legal casino in the home of every gambling addict in the world. They don't really need a better grift than that.
Oblig (Score:5, Informative)
> Whatever they sold you, don't touch it!
> Bury it in the desert!
> Wear gloves!
— [1]xkcd [xkcd.com]
[1] https://xkcd.com/2030/
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
When does the Take Your Meds show come on?
Re: (Score:2)
Presumably he doesn't know.
Re: (Score:1)
that requires obamacare so he is drinking bleach, no side effects reported.
"The shooting of an orange shitmonkey" (Score:2, Interesting)
I have this great idea for a reboot of an old TV show. The premise is simple. Just toss an orange baboon in front of a camera with a bunch of MAGAtards, and spend a few minutes filming him getting shot with various high-powered assault rifles. Wouldn't it be great, every night you can turn on your TV and watch a retard whose had their family name changed to "Trump" getting a .223 caliber facelift? If that's not a hit, find somebody that can aim and get it on the air!
Re: (Score:2)
I have a better idea, make the Orange Clown caddy for Joe Biden.
Re: (Score:2)
Trolls have been posting this literally this exact same garbage on here for years. For fuck's sake, come up with something original.
Okay (Score:1)
Third time it's definitely Slashvertisement.
The future of Bankruptcy (Score:2, Flamebait)
Multiple time bankrupt "billionaire" launches yet another half baked business venture to sucker fools out of their funds. Eventually the faithful will rage quit that Orange Jesus betrayed them...but not before they lose everything they can. Make crypto great again. Sad!
This time, he won't even need to file bankruptcy. (Score:2)
The exchange server will crash when the toilet next to it overflows - probably needs to be plunged, Florida's plumbing is like Mexico's, it can't handle all that paper.
Re: (Score:2)
> Multiple time bankrupt "billionaire" launches yet another half baked business venture to sucker fools out of their funds.
> Eventually the faithful will rage quit that Orange Jesus betrayed them...but not before they lose everything they can.
Sam Bankster Fraud deserves a new friend where he's living now, and Mafia Don is doing everything he possibly can to move in with his family.
Liberty Financial? (Score:5, Insightful)
"Make Finance Great Again"
Good grief these people. After all the other money grubbing shit they've pulled, they're rolling out a crypto scheme. I mean, the only truly shocking part of it is that it took them this long to realize what the grifting potential is on a crypto platform.
I look for them to be precisely dumb enough to think they can just dip their fingers in the pot anytime they want without consequence. Gonna get real interesting when we find out exactly *how* they're doing that somewhere down the line. I can't imagine any scenario that doesn't result in us finding out this whole thing was a front for collecting money to help pops with his legal woes. The crypto in this case feels even more scammy than other cryptos, and they all feel scammy. This has zero potential positive outcomes from the start, then you add in who is spinning it up and all the red alerts and klaxons start going off.
Woe be to the fool who tosses so much as a penny at this shit and ever expects to see it again. It'll be entertaining when it blows up, but perhaps our world should have some standard above, "The trainwreck was rather enjoyable to watch from afar."
Re: (Score:1)
When it all goes down the pan, the only ones who will have benefited will be Trump and his cronies who receive the "20 percent reserved for World Liberty Financial team compensation".
Re: (Score:2)
You know the SEC will eventually get involved and get tied up in court for a decade. There's a good chance the case will land before a Trump appointed judge who will do everything in their power to stall or outright dismiss.
Re: (Score:2)
> You know the SEC will eventually get involved and get tied up in court for a decade. There's a good chance the case will land before a Trump appointed judge who will do everything in their power to stall or outright dismiss.
It's gonna take a generation or more before we rid ourselves of the stain of Trump, even if he isn't elected a second time. And if we elect him a second time, I fear the world will never be able to get the blood off.
World Money in the toilet Financial (Score:2)
There I said it.
ridiculous and transparent (Score:2)
Branding it as "ScamCo" would have been funnier.
At this point the most plausible scenario is that since around 2012 we're characters in somebody's novel.
And the Author has no respect for their audience. And is a raging alcoholic^W meth head.
Money laundering (Score:3, Insightful)
It's just money laundering. There's a lot of people that would like to give some money to a potential presidential candidate in exchange for favors if he wins. That is of course very very illegal.
He's doing the same with his DJT stock. it's just a way to funnel money into his pocket, particularly from foreign governments.
Anyone remember when Jimmy Carter was forced to sell his peanut farm? Oh how far we've come...
Re: (Score:3)
It's just money laundering.
Yep, it totally is.
Re:Money laundering (Score:4, Insightful)
It's the same thing with his failing Scottish golf courses. Supposedly the convicted felon was broke, no money to do anything, yet somehow he came up [1]with millions in cash [newyorker.com], not loans, to buy the courses. He's never said where he got the money from and the Scottish authorities [2]were too cowardly [bbc.com] to exercise their right to demand he explain where he got the money from.
More than likely it's from the Russian mob or others linked to Putin, but unless someone hacks the financial statements and releases them, we'll never know.
[1] https://www.newyorker.com/news/swamp-chronicles/where-did-donald-trump-get-200-million-dollars-to-buy-his-money-losing-scottish-golf-club
[2] https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-59414362
starting crypto and defi (Score:2)
> described World Liberty Financial as a crypto platform that would let users conduct transactions without a bank sitting in the middle and extracting fees
You create a crypto offering when you want to become the bank. How does WLF make money if there are no transaction fees? They sure aren't just hoping that they hold something of value that you need. They make money by becoming the middle man and extracting fees.
I suspect that the Trumps might have a hard time banking in real life, makes sense that they
Re: (Score:2)
You can always design your 'crypto' so that you're the only transaction approver and extract a fee per transaction.
The only difference from other systems is that it's grossly inefficient, most of the gateways to standard banking are scams, and you're certainly not providing any guarantees.
The real question is why TrumpCoin wasn't minted before DodgeCoin became a thing.
Re: (Score:3)
>> described World Liberty Financial as a crypto platform that would let users conduct transactions without a bank sitting in the middle and extracting fees
> You create a crypto offering when you want to become the bank. How does WLF make money if there are no transaction fees?
They make money by minting the tokens and selling them to gullible idiots, I mean, customers.
Money laundering business (Score:4, Insightful)
Am I right?
His NY criminal case (Score:2)
Was about using company funds to pay for a whore and covering it up. Thanks to Trump Crypto you can pay for whores and no one will know!
There is nothing (Score:3)
the Trumps can't grift!
Criminalcurrency (Score:4, Insightful)
Crypto is a criminal's best friend. He wants to do it at the federal gov level. What idiot would base their country on a currency they have zero control over, is manipulated, and is deeply connected to organized crime and hostile nations.
THey probably plan a rug-pull (Score:3)
If the orange moron does not get elected by enough other morons, that is. Well, come to hink of it, if he, as president, orders that rug-pull, he would have immunity, right?
Just give Trump your money (Score:3)
At this point, if you really believe Trump is a businessman, digital pioneer, real estate developer, great President, and that Democrats are evil, want to transition your children at school while flooding the country with migrants while taking away your guns, etc., please just give Trump all of your money right now. Sell your home, retirement savings, car, jewelry, Television, sell everything, and write him a check. Buy Trump's gold "assassination edition" sneakers, piece of Trump's debate suit, The Trump Superhero NFT collection, load up on Truth Social stock, Trump trading cards, Trump Crypto, etc. Do it now before supplies run out! Trump needs your money now to finance his lavish lifestyle, and Make America Great Again!!!
Seriously though, how is a crypto exchange not just another scheme to take illegal campaign contributions from foreign countries, dictators, enemies of America, and launder it into Trump's pocket? What Trump has proven time and again, is he has more conflicts on interest than Hunter Biden has mysterious laptops. Pointing this out to Trump's cult is a waste of time, so please if you're still MAGA, please do yourself and all of us a favor and just give everything to Trump now, and once he's president again, you'll know exactly how much he really cares about you or your family's welfare.
Listen brother, all da rackets, all da time! See? (Score:2)
Da boss says we have to get more dough to pay off the screws to keep the g-men off of our backs.
Same Old Same Old (Score:1)
Ah, yes, the "decentralized" system that they're managing. Some would even say centrally managing. And there's no stupid bank collecting fees, says the intermediary company managing it that collects fees to make money.
Let the suckers get fleeced. (Score:2)
I'm done having empathy for anybody that touches anything that guy is involved in. Whether it's 25 cents or your life savings, at this point you've ignored enough to have your fleecing be largely your own fault.
The guardrails are lining the staircase, and signs mark the danger. If you choose to jump over them, that's on you.
Tech Bro Super Bowl (Score:5, Funny)
I'd say they'd gone full tech bro, but I suspect they're all bro and no tech.