For weeks, crypto has been in the dark about the details of former President Donald Trump’s forthcoming DeFi project.
On Tuesday, a CoinDesk report shed light on World Liberty Financial, which, according to the news organisation, promises to be a borrowing and lending platform.
The project appears to mirror Dough Finance, a recently hacked DeFi protocol.
Part of World Liberty Financial’s team includes Barron Trump, the 18-year-old son of the former president — excerpts of the project’s white paper describe him as the platform’s “DeFi visionary.”
“Going head to head with Trump was not on my list for 2024, but there you go,” wrote Michael Bentley, co-founder and CEO of Euler Labs, which writes code for a DeFi lending platform.
Adam Cochran, a crypto investor, was less tactful.
“Absolutely fucking wheezing at some of the passages in this article about the Trump DeFi project,” he wrote, adding laughing emojis.
The new specifics on World Liberty Financial come as the Trump campaign continues to solicit support from the crypto industry.
Trump spoke in July at Bitcoin 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee, and, in August, he announced that he aimed to make the US “the crypto capital of the planet.”
He has yet to provide details of that plan.
Hack job
Nic Carter, founding partner of Castle Island Ventures and a vocal Trump supporter, was less amused by the report.
“Is there something that we, as Crypto Twitter, can collectively do to stop the launch of World Liberty Coin?” he asked on X, in reference to the yet-to-be-launched cryptocurrency attached to Trump’s DeFi project. “I think it genuinely damages Trump’s electoral prospects, especially if it gets hacked.”
Amid the industry’s back-and-forth over World Liberty Financial, Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law, and Tiffany Trump, his youngest daughter, appeared to be the victims of a hack.
Both of their X accounts promoted fake versions of Trump’s crypto project.
“Can’t secure Twitter accounts,” wrote Carter, “but I’m sure they’ll be able to protect an (already hacked) DeFi protocol from hacks.”
A spokesperson for World Liberty Financial did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ben Weiss is a Dubai Correspondent at DL News. Got a tip? Email him at bweiss@dlnews.com.