The team behind World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a crypto project backed by former U.S. President and Republican Party Presidential candidate, has released information on the project’s launch. The developers have promised that the new DeFi project built on the Aave network could revolutionize traditional finance as we know it.
During a livestream on X Space on Monday, September 17, 2024, the team behind the WLFI crypto project backed by the former President’s family, including his sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr., said they desired to make DeFi more accessible. According to the developers, the initiative would leverage blockchain technology through a brand-new cryptocurrency to challenge the power of big banks and financial systems.
World Liberty Financial aims to tokenize real estate assets to enable users to bypass traditional banking barriers and access high-value property investments. According to available information, this could include non-fungible tokens (NFTs) or virtual property in the metaverse.
Crypto Lending Platform Regulated by the SEC
In what could be referred to as a “Damascus Road” experience, the unveiling of the WLFI crypto project comes at least 36 months after the Republican Presidential candidate ridiculed Bitcoin (BTC) as a “scam” and a “disaster waiting to happen.” The online event broadcast from Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago residence attracted over a million X users, who were mostly curious about the new DeFi project. Besides his sons, the other notable persons involved in the project include Steve Wyckoff, Zach Folkman (Operations Lead), and Chase Hero (Head of Data and Strategy).
According to Zack Folkman, World Liberty Financial will be a crypto banking platform regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), where the public can borrow, lend and invest in cryptocurrencies. Nonetheless, the WLFI token will not offer any economic rights to holders within the platform and will be non-transferable. Folkman stated:
“There have been no pre-sales and no V.C., early buy-ins. It is just like any other DeFi project you can expect to see that’s launching now with incredibly fair token distribution […] WLFI will be non-transferrable and not provide any economic rights such as dividends or other distributions.”
Scammers and Cybercriminals Target Potential Users
Regarding legibility, the developers emphasized strict regulations regarding who would be allowed to buy the token, hinting that only accredited individuals in the United States would be allowed to purchase the WLFI token. Accordingly, public members are allocated 63 per cent of the tokens, 17 per cent reserved for rewarding users, and 20 per cent set aside for team compensation, including Trump and his sons.
Like most other things associated with Donald Trump, the launch of World Liberty Financial was already courting controversy way before its unveiling, besides becoming a target of cyber criminals and scammers. For example, a fraudulent Telegram channel promising up to $15,000 in giveaways attracted over 70,000 individuals.
To qualify for the bogus giveaway, individuals were asked to “connect” their cryptocurrency wallets, an action that would expose users’ funds within those wallets to criminals. Another group of hackers targeted Tiffany and Lara Trump’s X accounts, aiming to promote similar scams, thanks to the hype surrounding the DeFi project.
Questions Surrounding Trump’s Motivation
Other concerns related to the project are whether Trump’s motivations are truly about transforming traditional finance or just another opportunity to cash in on his followers’ willingness to buy into his ventures. His non-fungible token (NFT) collection, released last year, raised $7.2 million and sold out within days.
There are already serious concerns within the crypto community regarding the motivation and timing of the World Liberty Financial project. Some players within the industry question whether Donald Trump is truly concerned about transforming traditional finance or whether it was a ploy to dupe his followers, who are always keen to buy into his ventures.
Trump’s NFT collection last year sold out within days of launching and garnered over $7.2 million. On the other hand are those who believe the backing of a current U.S. presidential candidate of the World Liberty Financial project could create the moment the entire crypto fraternity has been waiting to break into the mainstream.
