FX168 Financial News Agency (Asia Pacific) reported that less than 50 days before the US presidential election, former US President and Republican President Donald Trump announced the official launch of his family's new financial revolution project World Liberty Financial (WLFI). He stated that cryptocurrency is a very strong market. His sudden cryptocurrency investment is now facing scrutiny from Democrats in the US House of Representatives.
In a live interview on Twitter Space on Tuesday (September 17), Trump helped launch the WLFI project focusing on decentralized finance (DeFi), a cryptocurrency company led by his two sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., and real estate investor Steve Witkoff.
The venture is a new turn for Trump to embrace the world of cryptocurrency, which he has promised to give a big boost if he is elected in November.
Read more: Trump Warns of "Hell" for Crypto World if He Loses 2024 Election
Now, Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives say they will target the Trump family's WLFI cryptocurrency project, emphasizing that it raises conflict of interest concerns because he has incorporated the project into his pro-cryptocurrency policy message, according to U.S. media reports. If Democrats win back the House of Representatives, they will have subpoena power in 2025, which they used to target Trump's financial records during his first term.
Source: Politico
"For those of us who care about preventing money laundering and protecting investors, this latest Trump family fraud must be subject to the most rigorous scrutiny," said Rep. Sean Casten of Illinois, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee.
The comments show the risks Trump took by supporting business enterprises started by his sons less than 50 days before the election. It opens new attack lines for Democrats, who have long sought to portray Trump as corrupt.
Trump's potential opponents include Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Financial Services Committee, and Jamie Raskin, D-Calif., chairwoman of the House Oversight Committee.
"The fundamental problem is that the presidency of the United States is not a money-making business, or should not be, and Trump has viewed it from the beginning as an extension of his business enterprises," Raskin said in an interview last week. "This only exacerbates the conflict of interest and adds to the exposure of more criminal and constitutional issues."
Waters accused Trump of fraud in his cryptocurrency investments at a recent hearing of the House Financial Services Committee, which Waters will chair if Republicans lose control of the House. Other Democrats on the committee are also eager to dig deeper. They say the Trump family's policy of supporting cryptocurrencies when it founded the digital asset company was unethical.
If he wins, WLFI is likely to become the latest financial services company to be embroiled in Congress's scrutiny of Trump. In 2019, as committee chairs, Waters and Rep. Adam Schiff subpoenaed Trump's bank records, setting off a long-running legal standoff over their power.
Trump did not address specific issues with the WLFI project during the live Q&A session, but he slammed the Harris-Biden administration's attitude toward cryptocurrencies and once again vowed to enact policies that would benefit the industry.
"It's a very hostile environment right now, and the SEC has been very unfriendly and really going after people," he said. "I have a different view on this, and I just think that we have to be on the leading edge of whatever we do."
He also said that cryptocurrencies are "a very powerful market."
Trump Jr. said in the live broadcast: "I think what we are doing here will really change the rules of the game. This is the beginning of a financial revolution."
Although the details of the WLFI project were not mentioned in the live broadcast, its inside story was exposed by the currency circle media.
According to Decrypt, many details of Trump's cryptocurrency project WLFI are still unclear, but the team behind WLFI revealed previously unconfirmed details in a live interview with Decrypt's sister company Rug Radio.
The project will provide cryptocurrency lending services on the Ethereum blockchain network, similar to the large number of existing applications in DeFi. DeFi is a general term that refers to cryptocurrency products that do not require intermediaries such as banks to provide financial services.
Trump's crypto project promises to be more "user-friendly" and accessible than existing high-tech alternatives, and will be based on the non-transferable (i.e. non-tradable) WLFI governance token.
According to an excerpt from the WLFI white paper reviewed by Decrypt, most of the token's supply (62.66%) will be distributed in the upcoming token sale, and part of the net proceeds from the sale will go into the project's multi-signature wallet vault reserve. The remainder of the net proceeds from the sale will be paid to the project's founders, team and service providers.
According to an excerpt from the white paper, approximately 17.33% of the WLFI supply will be used specifically to incentivize expanded participation in world free governance and other community development initiatives.
The remaining 20% of the token supply will be allocated to the project team, advisors and future employees, with an undisclosed portion of WLFI going to the WLFI Foundation, affiliates of the Trump Organization, and the Witkoff Group, which is run by Trump's longtime ally and friend, and a participant in the World Freedom Movement, Witkoff.
Despite Trump's new actions, Trump did not mention Bitcoin and cryptocurrency at all in his debate with Harris earlier in September, sparking community doubts.
According to data from Polymarket, a large cryptocurrency betting platform, Trump's chances of winning fell to 48% in November, losing to Harris's 50%.
Source: Polymarket
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