Donald Trump goes all-in on the Crypto Bro vote

Ahead of Monday’s live broadcast, Trump said he would use the event to launch his latest business venture: a new crypto-banking platform called World Liberty Financial.

But in the end, it was Chase Herro, the self-described “dirtbag of the Internet,” and Zach Witkoff, the son of longtime Trump friend and donor Steve Witkoff, who discussed World Liberty Financial at more than an hour and a half from the event. .

In addition to Herro and Witkoff, Trump’s sons, Donald Jr., Eric and Barron, are also involved in the venture, a cryptocurrency business focused on decentralized finance known as “DeFi.”

The extent of the former president’s involvement in World Liberty Financial is still unclear, though a person familiar with the project told CNBC that Trump has not been heavily involved so far. The New York Times reports that the elder Trump holds the title of “cryptocurrency’s chief lawyer.”

Details about the company remain limited. According to CNBC, a small group of Trump family members and insiders will own 70% of the startup’s equity. The startup would allow users to borrow and lend crypto while paying initial investor fees.

Trump’s sons, Eric and Don Jr., have been teasing the launch of World Liberty Financial for weeks, posting about it on X and sending to a Telegram page with information about the project.

The venture comes as Trump has stepped up his efforts to ingratiate himself with the crypto crowd — a courtship that, as BI’s Kenneth Niemeyer wrote in July, has led him to become a trusted crypto stalwart.

In May, while making NFTs with his photo, Trump criticized President Joe Biden and Democrats for being “very against” crypto while presenting himself as the crypto candidate.

During Monday’s live broadcast, Trump attributed the change in his outlook on crypto to the positive response of his NFTs. The Republican candidate also cited his three sons for helping him learn about digital currency.

Trump called the cryptocurrency “the steel industry of 100 years ago” at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville in July. He also promised the crowd of crypto industry leaders that he would “ensure that the United States will be the crypto capital of the planet and the bitcoin superpower of the world” and even create a “strategic national bitcoin stockpile.”

“I want to make sure it’s good and solid and everything else, but I’m dealing with it,” the former president said at the time. “If you’re in favor of crypto, you’d better vote for Trump.”

As November approaches, Trump is betting that his entire crypto craze will pay off at the ballot box.

During Monday’s live broadcast, Trump took a scaremongering approach, encouraging crypto-lovers to vote for him so as not to attract hostility from the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

“If for some reason bad and bad things happen and we don’t win the election, those people who were investigated … in the crypto world, they’re going to live in hell,” Trump said.

Analysts have estimated that if Trump wins, bitcoin could rise to $125,000 by the end of the year, while a victory for Kamala Harris could send the currency to just $75,000.

But Trump wasn’t always so keen on crypto.

While in office, Trump said he was “not a fan” of cryptocurrency and that its “value is very volatile and based on thin air.” In 2021, Trump told Fox Business twice that it “just seems like a scam” and that investing in cryptocurrencies is a “disaster waiting to happen.”