Donald Trump is set to officially announce his new DeFi project, World Liberty Financial, today.
The project claims to “make crypto and America great by enabling mass adoption of stablecoins and decentralized finance.”
If successful, World Liberty Financial could raise $537 million from the token sale, potentially enriching its developers and the Trump family. But the project has already drawn criticism from a variety of quarters, including top Democrats like Maxine Waters, who warned Congress that the excitement surrounding the project was being used by malicious actors to defraud potential users.
Even Trump supporters are skeptical. Nic Carter, co-founder of Castle Island Ventures and a staunch Trump supporter, called the project an “unnecessary distraction” and a potential embarrassment for the former president.
World Liberty Financial was first pitched in early August by Eric and Donald Trump Jr. Since then, Donald Trump has promoted the project on social media, officially announcing the launch date last week on X (formerly Twitter).
The Trump family’s involvement extends beyond social media promotion, as 18-year-old Barron Trump is listed as the project’s “DeFi visionary.” Barron recently enrolled at New York University, but his role in the project remains unclear as he has no prior experience with decentralized finance (DeFi).
Despite the family's promotion of the project, neither Trump is legally involved in it, according to a disclaimer in the project's documentation.
DeFi projects often offer governance tokens that can be traded on the marketplace, and World Liberty Financial is no exception. The project will offer a token, but documentation claims it will not be tradeable initially. However, code tests suggest that the token could be made tradeable in the future.
The project reportedly plans to sell 30% of its WLFI tokens worth $1.8 billion, with the remaining 70% to be allocated to the Trump family, developers, and advisors.
The distribution of tokens among the team, advisors, and the Trump family remains unclear, and World Liberty has not confirmed whether the parameters used in these tests will remain in the final token structure.
The project has faced backlash from critics, especially among Democratic officials.
*This is not investment advice.
