The latest Trump family business venture, initially pitched as a DeFi platform named “The Defiant Ones” but now rebranded as World Liberty Financial, faces controversy just days after its launch.

Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. are “ambassadors” of World Liberty Financial. Reports indicate that the company is also linked to individuals involved in liquidity protocol Dough Finance. Notably, Dough Finance lost $1.8 million in Ethereum and USD Coin to a flash-loan attack on July 12. Zachary Folkman and Chase Herro, who built Dough Finance, are now executives at the Trump-led firm. They also founded Date Hotter Girls LLC and crypto-focused Pacer Capital.

Trump endorsed the decentralized finance project on Aug. 22 via a social media post, and by Aug. 29, it was rebranded as World LibertyFi. Subsequently, the social media accounts of two Trump family members were compromised and used to promote a fake Solana-based memecoin. Lara Trump, co-chair of the Republican National Committee, was one of the targets.

Crypto venture capitalist and Trump supporter Nic Carter expressed concern over the initiative. “This is a huge mistake,” he said. “It looks like Trump’s inner circle is just cashing in on his recent embrace of crypto in a naive way, and it seems they’re burning a lot of the goodwill built with the industry so far.”

“Goodwill?” It’s worth mentioning that some of the sector’s most well-known figures have been found guilty of fraud.

Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao served a four-month prison sentence; crypto entrepreneur Do Kwon spent more than six months in a Montenegrin prison; and FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Trump’s business ventures have also faced legal issues, such as the Donald J. Trump Foundation and Trump University. He is the first former U.S. president convicted of felony crimes.

Despite once stating he was “not a fan” of Bitcoin, Trump has incorporated pro-crypto policies into his speeches leading up to the 2024 presidential election. In May, he became the first major political candidate to accept crypto donations. He promised a government-backed crypto reserve and the firing of Gary Gensler, the current Securities and Exchange Commission chair.

“I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air. Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity…,” Trump tweeted on July 12, 2019.

His shift in stance won support and financial backing from prominent figures like Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, founders of the Gemini exchange, who each donated $1 million in Bitcoin to Trump.

However, fraudsters have targeted Trump’s supporters with fake crypto websites and misleading donation centers. In June, a London-based cybersecurity company began monitoring attacks surrounding the Trump campaign, discovering fraudulent donation schemes and phishing attempts.

The scrutiny surrounding World LibertyFi and its World Liberty Coin continues. For weeks, the Trump brothers teased a financial venture challenging traditional banking, which scammers have exploited. Carter, who remains a Trump supporter, warns that the World Liberty project “genuinely damages” Trump’s electoral prospects. Polls indicate a tight presidential race against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.

“It’ll be the juiciest DeFi target ever and it’s forked from a protocol that itself was hacked. [It’s] also an obvious target for the SEC,” Carter wrote on Sept. 3. “At best it’s an unnecessary distraction, at worst it’s a huge embarrassment and source of (additional) legal trouble.”

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