Former President Donald Trump has seemingly put his weight behind his family’s crypto project, the Defiant Ones. In an Aug. 22 post on Truth Social, Trump endorsed the decentralized finance project, stating, “For too long, the average American has been squeezed by the big banks and financial elites. It’s time we take a stand—together.”

It’s worth noting that Trump met with leaders of the largest financial firms in the U.S., promising tax cuts and deregulation in exchange for their support ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Among the names he spoke with this summer include JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser, and Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan.

This marks the first time Trump has publicly endorsed the still-inactive crypto project on his personal account. Up until now, his sons — Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. — have been promoting the mysterious project over the last few weeks.

“It’s equitable. It’s collateral anyone can get access to and do so instantly. I don’t know if people realize what a shakeup that is for the world of banking and finance.”

Eric Trump described the project as “digital real estate,” highlighting its potential to shake up the financial sector by providing equitable and instant access to collateral. Most of the Trump brothers’ posts have broadly hinted at the project’s goal of building “the future of finance,” but have provided no specifics on its functionality. This has left followers curious about whether it would involve a decentralized autonomous organization, a new cryptocurrency, trading market, or something else entirely.

To cut down on the speculation, Trump Jr. recently directed people to a Telegram channel called the Defiant Ones, stating it would be the official source of information about the mysterious project. The channel currently has almost 40,000 members, and recently gave away premium Telegram subscriptions to 10 of them.

The project seems like the culmination of Trump’s newfound support for crypto. While he referred to the industry as a “scam” in the past, he has since reinvented himself as a pro-crypto stalwart, earning support from the industry in the process. In July, the former president headlined the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Tennessee, where he outlined a series of crypto-friendly proposals, including setting up a national Bitcoin reserve if elected.

After The Defiant Ones was unveiled, numerous critics on social media almost immediately called it another “grift.” At least six of Trump’s companies have gone bankrupt. The now-defunct Trump University, launched in 2005, was shut down for fraud. Trump has since resorted to selling sneakers, bibles, and non-fungible tokens, or NFTs.

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