The team behind Donald Trump’s latest crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, took over two hours to release the key detail many were waiting for at Monday night’s event on X.
The suspense finally ended when they revealed who could buy the forthcoming tokens and how shares would be distributed. Billed as the next big step for the former president and his family, this launch had built up anticipation for weeks.
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Zak Folkman, one of the project’s founders, explained that the platform’s WLFI token will be divided among several groups. “Twenty percent of the tokens are set aside for the founding team,” he said, referring to a group that includes the Trumps.
Another 17% will go toward user rewards, while the remaining 63% of tokens will be publicly available. He emphasized, “There will be no presales or early buy-ins.”
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This was a crucial clarification, as an earlier draft of the project’s outline, which had been leaked, raised eyebrows. The draft indicated that the founders would control 70% of the tokens, leading many to worry that it might just be another quick-cash scheme.
The structure of the offering, a Regulation D token offering, allows World Liberty Financial to raise funds without registering with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as long as they meet certain criteria. This led to a conversation about how the SEC, under its chair Gary Gensler, has been regulating the crypto industry, often using enforcement actions instead of clear guidelines.
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Trump himself was part of the action, speaking openly about his initial lack of interest in crypto. “I wasn’t overly interested,” Trump said, adding that his perspective changed when his children introduced him to crypto through the success of his non-fungible token collections. “I think my children opened my eyes more than anything else,” he remarked.
The event took place against an unusual backdrop for Trump. Just the day before, there was an alleged assassination attempt while Trump was golfing with Steve Witkoff, his longtime friend and a key figure in World Liberty Financial.
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The incident took place at Trump’s West Palm Beach golf club and the FBI has been investigating. Despite the dramatic incident, Witkoff joined Trump for Monday’s event, where he spoke about how the venture began.
Witkoff recounted how his son had introduced him to two young crypto entrepreneurs, Chase Herro and Zak Folkman, who convinced him that decentralized finance (DeFi) could be the future of money.
“These guys are as sharp as any currency traders I’ve ever met,” Witkoff said. He then described how he brought the Trump family into the fold. “We had a meeting with Eric, Don Jr., the president and his counsel. We’ve been on it for close to nine months,” he revealed.
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The similarities between World Liberty Financial and Trump’s previous project, Trump Media & Technology Group, didn’t go unnoticed. Like the media company that launched the conservative social platform Truth Social, this crypto venture is expected to turn heads.
However, despite the Trump family’s involvement, they do not own or manage the platform. Eric Trump and Steve Witkoff are the two figures at the helm and both are new to the crypto space. Though Trump has been warming to crypto in recent months, even delivering a keynote at the largest bitcoin event in July, the public remains curious – and cautious – about this new project.
The founders were tight-lipped about plans, offering little clarity on timelines. The only clue provided was that updates would come through official channels and they warned fans to be wary of scammers eager to take advantage of the buzz surrounding the project.
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This article Trump Family’s Crypto Venture Revealed: New Buying Rules, Who Can Invest and What It Means for Early Adopters originally appeared on Benzinga.com
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