Donald Trump’s crypto project, World Liberty Financial (WLFI), has announced that over 100,000 users have registered interest before its token launch on October 15. The platform, backed by Trump, aims to introduce a decentralized finance (DeFi) system where users can borrow and lend crypto, interact with liquidity pools, and transact with stablecoins. It was confirmed that the WLFI token will be an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum blockchain, functioning as the governance token for the platform.
During an online session on October 14, Zak Folkman, head of operations was joined by team members Chase Herro and Zach Witkoff, who confirmed that the platform is mainly accessible to accredited investors in the United States. To qualify, investors must meet criteria set by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), such as earning over $200,000 annually or having assets worth over $1 million.
Rich Teo, co-founder of Paxos, has joined the project as the lead for stablecoin and payments. The project’s token, WLFI, will be allocated with 63% reserved for public sale, 17% for user rewards, and 20% for the team. According to their white paper, the WLFI token will be nontransferable for the first 12 months but can be used immediately for governance voting. The project aims to raise $300 million, bringing its estimated valuation to $1.5 billion.
Aave CEO, Stani Kulechov, expressed excitement that World Liberty Financial will utilize Aave's system for borrowing and lending. The platform will initially launch as an Aave instance on the Ethereum network, with plans to expand to Ethereum's layer-2 network, Scroll.
Donald Trump Jr. was named the “Web3 Ambassador” for the project. He described World Liberty Financial as a fair financial system that serves regular citizens and criticized the U.S. banking system as a "big Ponzi scheme." Despite Trump’s involvement, he has yet to make direct public statements on the project. However, Trump, who is running for president, has promised to establish the U.S. as a global leader in the crypto industry if he wins the upcoming election on November 5.
The timing of the WLFI token sale, set to start three weeks before the U.S. elections, has raised speculation. Trump is currently leading Kamala Harris by 9% on the decentralized betting platform Polymarket, while national polls show Harris leading Trump by 2.4%, according to 538 polling data.
World Liberty Financial’s success could bolster Trump's campaign promises to boost the crypto sector and promote financial inclusivity through blockchain technology.
