Trump says he will announce a plan to make US the ‘crypto capital’
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Trump has done a complete about-face toward the asset class, which he used to consider a scam.
PHOTO: AFP
Follow topic:
WASHINGTON – Donald Trump appears to be taking an even deeper dive into the digital asset world, saying he will unveil plans to ensure that the US will be the “crypto capital of the planet”.
The former US president and current Republican Party nominee for the office was not more specific in a video message on social media platform X on Aug 29.
The post included a link to World Liberty Financial, a decentralised finance (DeFi) project that his sons have been promoting recently.
While few details have been revealed, the metadata of the website describes the project as the “cutting-edge” DeFi platform that will connect users with “decentralised finance’s best tools for secure, high-yield crypto investments”.
Crypto publication CoinDesk first reported the details from the site.
“This afternoon, I’m laying out my plan to ensure that the United States will be the crypto capital of the planet,” Trump said in the video.
Trump has done a complete about-face towards the asset class, which he had considered a scam while he was in office.
In July, he was the featured speaker at a Bitcoin conference where donors were asked to pay US$844,600 (S$1.1 million) for a seat at a round table with him.
DeFi is a sub-sector of crypto that aims to eliminate intermediaries such as banks and brokers through the use of software-driven applications.
Its proponents claim DeFi projects will democratise finance.
“They want to choke you. They want to choke you out of business,” Trump said in the video on X, without specifying who “they” are.
“We’re not going to let that happen.”
A regulatory crackdown on crypto has made the US a less-friendly country to build DeFi projects, advocates say.
Uniswap Labs, creator of the largest DeFi trading platform on the Ethereum blockchain, said earlier in 2024 that the US Securities and Exchange Commission has warned that it faces potential enforcement action for operating as an unregistered exchange and broker dealer.
The set-up of the project promoted by the former president’s sons, Eric and Donald Trump Jr, remains unclear.
World Liberty Financial has already launched a channel on social media platform Telegram that has drawn more than 52,000 subscribers.
Telegram chief executive officer Pavel Durov was charged this week in France
“President Donald J. Trump has just tweeted about World Liberty Financial!” The latest message from the Telegram channel wrote. “Let’s show our support and keep pushing forward together! Be DeFiant!”
On Aug 27, a fourth collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which feature images ranging from Trump in a superhero costume to him holding figurative bitcoins, was launched. The NFTs sell for US$99 each.
Trump’s CIC Digital, which earned US$7.2 million through licensing his image on NFTs, held a crypto wallet with at least US$1 million in Ethereum.
Trump’s support of crypto has led some executives in the sector, including venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, to endorse him. BLOOMBERG
