Trump-backed World Liberty Financial starts token sale
New decentralised finance World Liberty Financial (WLFI), backed by Donald Trump and his family, has announced plans to start selling its public token from 15 October. This comes three weeks before the presidential election in the United States for which Trump is the Republican candidate.
The project’s social media account said, “Public sale begins October 15, open to all who qualify through the whitelist.”
Backed by Trump and his family, the decentralised finance’s (DeFi) token sale will be live to those qualifying through the project’s whitelist and will be provided exclusive early access to the WLFI token.
WLFI will be spearheaded by Zachary Folkman and Chase Herro. Folkman and Herro have previously worked on DeFi platform Dough Finance, where a July exploit saw crypto assets worth $2 million being drained.
Chief crypto advocate Trump
Trump’s family members, including Trump, have publicly championed for WLFI on their social medias. The former president has been titled as ‘Chief Crypto Advocate’ whereas two of his sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., have been named ‘Web3 Ambassadors’. His other son, Barron Trump, is listed as ‘DeFi visionary’.
The project reportedly aims to raise $300 million at a valuation of $1.5 billion. It will serve as a protocol’s governance token and allow users to vote on initiatives about the platform’s development. The project plans to launch on Aave’s v3 platform on Ethereum’s mainnet.
Donald Trump, according to bettors on the blockchain prediction platform Polymarket, is seen as the leading candidate in the upcoming US presidential election on November 5.
As the elections near, the crypto industry is trying to help elect lawmakers who will be more supportive of the industry. A report finds that by last month, the sector had spent $119 million on donations.
Trump’s proactive stance
Donald Trump has taken a more proactive approach towards cryptocurrency with the launch of World Liberty Financial, saying, “I think crypto is one of those things we have to do.”
This marks a turnaround from three years ago, when he said Bitcoin seemed like a “scam” and a threat to the US dollar. It is also in stark contrast to the Biden administration, where the White House has been leading a crackdown on crypto firms in recent years.
Recent clampdowns include Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and CEO of FTX, receiving 25 years in jail for fraud and Binance’s Changpeng Zhao getting four months in prison and the company paying a hefty fine.
