Former U.S. President Donald Trump is known for his multiple business ventures, but his latest one is controversial and comes less than two months before Election Day, as the race continues to heat up between him and current U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris.
"Crypto is one of those things we have to do," said Trump on an X livestream.
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Since August, Trump and his two eldest sons have teased the launch of this new company via social media posts on X, hyping up their followers for the upcoming launch.
The now-named "World Liberty Financial," which was previously known as "The DeFiant Ones," is a decentralized finance (DeFi) cryptocurrency platform that allows its users to borrow, lend, and invest in crypto.
Trump's new business venture will be in partnership with his sons Donald Jr., Eric, and Barron Trump, along with two other partners, Chase Herro and Zak Folkman.
However, the founders of this newly launched business have little to no previous experience in the crypto industry:
The Trumps are known as businessmen and politicians, while Folkman is an entrepreneur and investor, and Herro is a salesman and long-time business partner of Folkman who self-describes as "the dirtbag of the internet."
Launch date set, controversial details revealed
Last Friday, after weeks of waiting, Trump revealed a launch date for the introduction of his newest business venture.
The launch of World Liberty Financial was live-streamed on the social media platform X on Monday night, and users were granted full access to details of Trump's newest crypto company.
The over two-hour event revealed that the token would be called WLFI. This token follows the Securities and Exchange Commission's Regulation D (Reg D), which allows a company to generate funds without having to register for securities as long as certain prerequisites are met.
In the live stream, Folkman explained the equity structure of the token: 20% would be allotted to the company's founding team, 17% would be for user rewards, and 63% would be for public purchase.
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Although the Trumps are part of the founding force behind World Liberty Financial, none of them will sell, own, manage, or operate on the platform itself.
However, they will receive compensation from the profits made by the crypto company.
Risky move raises constitutional conflict concerns
Trump seems to be using his Republican Party candidacy for the upcoming U.S. Presidential elections as a way to further promote his new crypto business through a larger and more prominent platform.
However, the controversial business venture could lead to constitutional conflicts of interest.
If Trump wins the presidential title, this crypto business could breach a constitutional clause he previously broke during his years as U.S. president.
The Foreign Emoluments Clause prohibits the President from receiving any payments from foreign governments without Congressional approval.
In January, Trump admitted to accepting emoluments from foreign governments, including payments amounting to at least $7.8 million from four businesses in 20 or more foreign governments.
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The crypto business already treads a fine line between illegal and fraudulent acts, accounting for multiple instances of tax fraud, money laundering, and scams.
According to the 2023 Cryptocurrency Fraud Report, $5.6 billion in cryptocurrency scams were resisted in 2023 alone.
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