‘A huge mistake’: Crypto allies of Trump cringe at his family's startup launch
The upcoming crypto venture is drawing attention from what seem to be hackers and individuals attempting scams as the launch date approaches.
TroibNews 
Donald Trump’s sons are eager to transform their father’s burgeoning relationship with the cryptocurrency sector into a family business. However, the project’s rocky launch has so far resulted in one significant outcome: a potential political liability for the former president.
Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have been hinting at plans to introduce a crypto startup named World Liberty Financial for several weeks. Unfortunately, recent developments have plagued the rollout with a series of scams that have redirected supporters to fraudulent sites and compromised the social media accounts of other Trump family members.
These incidents have unsettled some of Trump’s associates in the crypto community, who caution that the family should reconsider a venture they believe poses unnecessary political risks and casts a negative light on the industry.
“This is a huge mistake,” said Nic Carter, a Trump supporter who co-founded the crypto-focused venture capital firm Castle Island Ventures. “It looks like Trump’s inner circle is just cashing in on his recent embrace of crypto in a kind of naive way, and frankly it looks like they’re burning a lot of the goodwill that’s been built with the industry so far.”
The turmoil highlights the dangers of Trump’s increasing ties to the crypto community, which he has promised to support with a comprehensive set of policies if he is re-elected. Government watchdogs have warned that the blend of politics, policy, and the Trump family business raises new conflict-of-interest concerns as Democrats seek to label him as a “con artist” during the final stretch of the presidential campaign, especially as major cryptocurrency companies are under fire for scams and consumer exploitation.
Details about the Trump brothers’ crypto project remain under wraps. However, Trump began promoting the forthcoming launch of World Liberty Financial on social media last month after the project set up an official channel on Telegram.
Almost immediately, it seems that fraudsters took advantage. The X accounts of Republican National Committee Co-Chair Lara Trump and Tiffany Trump were hacked late Tuesday, with unauthorized users posting links to a fake website for the crypto venture, complete with misleading information. World Liberty clarified on its official Telegram channel that the accounts had been “hacked” and cautioned against clicking any links from those posts. Tens of thousands of Telegram users have also been misled into joining an unofficial channel pretending to be World Liberty Financial.
World Liberty representative Zak Folkman stated in an interview that the organization is “building a world-class decentralized finance platform with the absolute best of the best in the industry.” He reported that both the unauthorized posts and the counterfeit Telegram channel had been flagged to the respective platforms. Folkman confirmed that both Lara and Tiffany Trump are not involved in the project.
“We take security very seriously and put it first and foremost, above anything,” he noted, adding that World Liberty collaborates “with the top auditing firms and security specialists in the world.”
Nevertheless, experts argue that the manner in which the crypto project was launched made it vulnerable to scams.
“It’s a very typical playbook of smaller operators or more amateur operations in the crypto space to try to generate a lot of hype before revealing the details,” observed Austin Campbell, an adjunct professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business who previously led risk and portfolio management at the crypto firm Paxos. “That makes them susceptible to all sorts of nonsense.”
Information about World Liberty remains limited. The crypto news outlet CoinDesk reported this week that a white paper for the project outlines “a borrowing and lending service strikingly similar to Dough Finance, a recently hacked blockchain app built by four people listed as World Liberty Financial team members.” According to CoinDesk, the Trump brothers’ venture is preparing to launch a new crypto token.
Folkman stated that the startup is creating a "protocol that gives power to the average person to be able to take control of all of the amazing opportunities decentralized finance offers." However, he declined to provide specific details regarding the service.
Early indications have not alleviated concerns among skeptics, including crypto advocates.
A crypto industry representative in Washington, who wished to remain anonymous due to sensitivities related to criticizing Trump, expressed having “a laundry list of concerns.” A primary concern is that the venture could negatively impact the industry as it advocates for regulatory changes aimed at legitimizing the sector.
“Maybe it doesn’t move the needle for most people, but if this thing is hacked or regular folks lose money on it or it opens up the door for the SEC to investigate the team, it only looks like it has downside risk,” Carter remarked. “It looks to have very little upside risk.”
Sanya Singh contributed to this report for TROIB News
Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have been hinting at plans to introduce a crypto startup named World Liberty Financial for several weeks. Unfortunately, recent developments have plagued the rollout with a series of scams that have redirected supporters to fraudulent sites and compromised the social media accounts of other Trump family members.
These incidents have unsettled some of Trump’s associates in the crypto community, who caution that the family should reconsider a venture they believe poses unnecessary political risks and casts a negative light on the industry.
“This is a huge mistake,” said Nic Carter, a Trump supporter who co-founded the crypto-focused venture capital firm Castle Island Ventures. “It looks like Trump’s inner circle is just cashing in on his recent embrace of crypto in a kind of naive way, and frankly it looks like they’re burning a lot of the goodwill that’s been built with the industry so far.”
The turmoil highlights the dangers of Trump’s increasing ties to the crypto community, which he has promised to support with a comprehensive set of policies if he is re-elected. Government watchdogs have warned that the blend of politics, policy, and the Trump family business raises new conflict-of-interest concerns as Democrats seek to label him as a “con artist” during the final stretch of the presidential campaign, especially as major cryptocurrency companies are under fire for scams and consumer exploitation.
Details about the Trump brothers’ crypto project remain under wraps. However, Trump began promoting the forthcoming launch of World Liberty Financial on social media last month after the project set up an official channel on Telegram.
Almost immediately, it seems that fraudsters took advantage. The X accounts of Republican National Committee Co-Chair Lara Trump and Tiffany Trump were hacked late Tuesday, with unauthorized users posting links to a fake website for the crypto venture, complete with misleading information. World Liberty clarified on its official Telegram channel that the accounts had been “hacked” and cautioned against clicking any links from those posts. Tens of thousands of Telegram users have also been misled into joining an unofficial channel pretending to be World Liberty Financial.
World Liberty representative Zak Folkman stated in an interview that the organization is “building a world-class decentralized finance platform with the absolute best of the best in the industry.” He reported that both the unauthorized posts and the counterfeit Telegram channel had been flagged to the respective platforms. Folkman confirmed that both Lara and Tiffany Trump are not involved in the project.
“We take security very seriously and put it first and foremost, above anything,” he noted, adding that World Liberty collaborates “with the top auditing firms and security specialists in the world.”
Nevertheless, experts argue that the manner in which the crypto project was launched made it vulnerable to scams.
“It’s a very typical playbook of smaller operators or more amateur operations in the crypto space to try to generate a lot of hype before revealing the details,” observed Austin Campbell, an adjunct professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business who previously led risk and portfolio management at the crypto firm Paxos. “That makes them susceptible to all sorts of nonsense.”
Information about World Liberty remains limited. The crypto news outlet CoinDesk reported this week that a white paper for the project outlines “a borrowing and lending service strikingly similar to Dough Finance, a recently hacked blockchain app built by four people listed as World Liberty Financial team members.” According to CoinDesk, the Trump brothers’ venture is preparing to launch a new crypto token.
Folkman stated that the startup is creating a "protocol that gives power to the average person to be able to take control of all of the amazing opportunities decentralized finance offers." However, he declined to provide specific details regarding the service.
Early indications have not alleviated concerns among skeptics, including crypto advocates.
A crypto industry representative in Washington, who wished to remain anonymous due to sensitivities related to criticizing Trump, expressed having “a laundry list of concerns.” A primary concern is that the venture could negatively impact the industry as it advocates for regulatory changes aimed at legitimizing the sector.
“Maybe it doesn’t move the needle for most people, but if this thing is hacked or regular folks lose money on it or it opens up the door for the SEC to investigate the team, it only looks like it has downside risk,” Carter remarked. “It looks to have very little upside risk.”
Sanya Singh contributed to this report for TROIB News
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