Trump Unveils His Latest Venture: Crypto

"Crypto is one of those things we have to do," Donald Trump said in an X livestream on Monday, flanked by sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump. "Whether we like it or not, I have to do it." The GOP presidential nominee has now officially introduced World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency venture the New York Times calls "a project that has already raised concerns about the former president's conflicts of interest and even alarmed some of his most vocal supporters in the industry."

• Details: There aren't many so far. The Times reports that WLF's "exact purpose remains unclear" and that "no official launch date has been set," and Trump himself didn't speak explicitly about it. But the AP notes the company "is expected to be a borrowing and lending service used to trade cryptocurrencies," which sources confirm with the Times.

• In charge: Running WLF are two obscure crypto entrepreneurs, Chase Herro and Zachary Folkman. Per the Times, "Mr. Herro has described himself as 'the dirtbag of the internet,' while Mr. Folkman used to teach classes on how to seduce women."
• Keeping it in the family: A white paper for WLF seen by the Times says the venture isn't owned or run by Trump, his Trump Organization, or any family, though "family members might receive compensation." But Trump family members definitely appear to be involved, with Trump himself billed as the "chief crypto advocate" in the white paper, his two older sons given the title of "web3 ambassador," and youngest son Barron dubbed the "DeFi visionary," a reference to decentralized financing.
• The Barron angle: In fact, a source tells the Times that real estate mogul Steve Witkoff, who helped get the venture off the ground, "envisioned the project partly as a way to give Barron Trump some experience with entrepreneurship ... and steer him away from memecoins, a scam-ridden segment of the crypto industry."
• Ethical quandary: Experts are frowning on the potential conflicts of interest that could emerge with this new venture if Trump is elected president in November. If that happens, he'd "be able to push regulatory agencies to favor businesses he is involved in," says Danielle Brian, executive director of the nonpartisan watchdog Project on Government Oversight.
• Response from Trump campaign: Brian Hughes, a senior adviser for Trump's camp, offered what Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times calls "a bog-standard attack" on Trump's rival for the presidency when asked about those possible conflicts. "Crypto innovators and others in the technology sector are under attack from Kamala Harris and the Democrats," Hughes wrote. (Much more here from Hiltzik, who notes that Trump "plainly smells money in this newfangled scheme.")
• Trump's crypto past: The former commander in chief wasn't always so keen on crypto. During his time in the Oval Office, he said he was "not a fan," calling bitcoin a "scam," per the Times and AP.

(More Donald Trump stories.)