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Former President Donald Trump on Monday is expected to announce the debut of a new crypto platform called World Liberty Financial that will be controlled by sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.
The Republican nominee for president plans to discuss the new venture from his Mar-a-Lago resort at 8 p.m. ET on September 16, 50 days before Election Day. In recent weeks, the Trumps have been promoting the endeavor on social media, touting it as “the future of crypto.”
Trump’s 18-year-old son Barron, a first-year student at New York University, is identified as the project’s “DeFi visionary,” according to a white paper on the project obtained by cryptocurrency news site CoinDesk. DeFi, short for “decentralized finance,” is a term that refers to financial services offered through public blockchains.
“We’re embracing the future with crypto and leaving the slow and outdated big banks behind,” Trump said in a video posted Thursday on X from Mar-a-Lago.
The Trumps’ crypto plans jibe with the former president’s campaign pledge to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the planet.” But the venture also raises concerns about how Donald Trump might use federal resources to promote a personal financial project.
“Taking a pro-crypto stance is not necessarily troubling; the troubling aspect is doing it while starting a way to personally benefit from it,” Jordan Libowitz, a spokesperson for the government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, told the Associated Press.
Libowitz added, “The success of this could be very tied to American economic policy.”
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to CBS MoneyWatch’s request for comment.
What is World Liberty Financial?
Because the Trumps have released few details about World Liberty Financial, little is known about how the platform will operate. Crypto exchanges are platforms where investors can buy and sell digital currencies, similar to how a traditional stock exchange operates.
Eric Trump has said that the startup will promote “financial independence,” while Donald Trump Jr. has said it will “make finance great again.”
According to the project’s white paper obtained by CoinDesk, 70% of the company’s tokens will be reserved for company insiders, while the remaining 30% will be distributed through a public sale. A portion of those proceeds will go to a founding team, according to the report citing the white paper.
Why is Trump launching a crypto exchange?
Millions of Americans have invested in or traded cryptocurrencies, although these digital assets tend to attract young men, according to data from Pew Research Center.
Forty-three percent of American men ages 18 to 20 say they have invested in, traded or used cryptocurrency, compared to 16% of the general population.
In May, Trump announced that his campaign would begin accepting donations in cryptocurrency, part of an effort to build and solicit support from what he called a “crypto army.”
By contrast, while he served as president, Trump described himself as “not a fan” of cryptocurrency. In 2019, he tweeted that cryptocurrency “can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity.”
—The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Megan Cerullo is a New York-based reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering small business, workplace, health care, consumer spending and personal finance topics. She regularly appears on CBS News 24/7 to discuss her reporting.
