Dough

Donald Trump

World

Liberty

DeFi

<p class="is-style-lead">The latest Trump family business venture — originally pitched as a DeFi platform dubbed “The Defiant Ones,” but has since been rebranded as World Liberty Financial — is fraught with controversy just days after it was unveiled.</p>
<p>While Trump’s eldest sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., are “ambassadors” of World Liberty Financial, CoinDesk <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/09/03/inside-the-trump-crypto-project-linked-to-a-2m-defi-hack-and-former-pick-up-artist/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">reports</a> that the once “Defiant” company is also linked to individuals involved in liquidity protocol Dough Finance.</p>
<p>Recall how Dough Finance <a href="https://x.com/CyversAlerts/status/1811663035242553450?t=kkZV72eANNlf0vg7-ubLrQ&amp;s=19" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">lost</a> $1.8 million in Ethereum (<a href="https://crypto.news/price/ethereum/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">ETH</a>) and USD Coin (<a href="https://crypto.news/price/usd-coin/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">USDC</a>) to a flash-loan attack on July 12.</p>
<p>Zachary Folkman and Chase Herro – the duo that built Dough Finance — are bosses at the new Trump-led firm, too. They started the companies Date Hotter Girls LLC and crypto-focused Pacer Capital, respectively.</p>
<p>Trump first <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://crypto.news/trump-promotes-family-crypto-project-the-defiant-ones-on-truth-social/">endorsed</a> the decentralized finance project in an Aug. 22 <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113005603392033479" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">post</a> on Truth Social. He <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1829141447087648796" target="_blank">posted</a> about it again on Aug. 29 (by then it was dubbed World LibertyFi).</p>
<p>The X accounts of two of his family members were subsequently <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://crypto.news/trump-family-x-accounts-hacked-to-push-crypto-scam/">compromised</a> and used to promote a <a href="https://crypto.news/crypto-fraud-mbappes-x-account-hacked-trader-loses-over-1m/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">fake Solana-based memecoin</a>. One of the targets was Lara Trump, who is co-chair of the Republican National Committee.</p>
<p>The whole initiative sounds fishy to crypto venture capitalist and Trump supporter Nic Carter, who didn’t mince words on the matter. “This is a huge mistake,” he <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/06/trump-family-crypto-startup-00177566" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">said</a> per Politico. “It looks like Trump’s inner circle is just cashing in on his recent embrace of crypto in a kind of naive way, and frankly it looks like they’re burning a lot of the goodwill that’s been built with the industry so far.”</p>
<p>“Goodwill?” It’s worth mentioning that some of the sector’s most famous names have been found guilty of fraud.</p>
<p>Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://crypto.news/binance-founder-changpeng-zhao-begins-prison-sentence/">received</a> a four-month sentence in prison; crypto entrepreneur Do Kwon <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://crypto.news/jury-finds-terraform-labs-do-kwon-guilty-on-fraud-charges/">spent</a> more than six months in a Montenegrin prison; and FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://crypto.news/crypto-lawyer-sam-bankman-fried-to-serve-20-year-prison-sentence-without-parole/">sentenced</a> to 25 years in prison.</p>
<p>Trump is also no stranger to having his business ventures marred by illegalities (see <a href="https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2019/donald-j-trump-pays-court-ordered-2-million-illegally-using-trump-foundation" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Donald J. Trump Foundation</a> and <a href="https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2018/ag-schneiderman-statement-final-trump-university-settlement" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Trump University</a>). He is also the first former U.S. president to be convicted of felony crimes.</p>
<p>You might also like: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://crypto.news/can-the-crypto-industry-trust-donald-trump/"> Can the crypto industry trust Donald Trump? </a></p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="trump-crypto-and-trust">Trump, crypto and trust</h2>
<p>Trump, who once said he was “not a fan” of Bitcoin (<a href="https://crypto.news/price/bitcoin/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">BTC</a>), has been weaving pro-crypto policies into his stump speeches in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election.</p>
<p>In May, he became the first major political candidate to <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://crypto.news/trump-campaign-now-accepting-crypto-donations-a-first-for-major-party-nominees/">accept</a> crypto donations. Crypto celebrants then received a flurry of promises should Trump be re-elected: a government-backed crypto reserve and the firing Gary Gensler, the oft-critiqued current Securities and Exchange Commission chair.</p>
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   <p lang="en" dir="ltr">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….</p>— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1149472282584072192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">July 12, 2019</a>
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<p>His one-eighty won him the support and financial backing of such deep pockets as <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://crypto.news/tag/winklevoss/">Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss</a> — founders of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://crypto.news/tag/gemini/">Gemini</a> exchange — who <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://crypto.news/gemini-founders-donate-2m-in-bitcoin-to-support-trump/">gave $1 million</a> in <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://crypto.news/tag/bitcoin/">Bitcoin</a> each to the former president.</p>
<p>But since then, fraudsters have <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://crypto.news/crypto-scammers-targeting-major-trump-supporters/">targeted</a> his so-called “MAGA” base with fake crypto websites and misleading donation centers. In June, a London-based cybersecurity company called Netcraft began <a href="https://www.netcraft.com/blog/trumped-up-crypto-donation-scams/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">monitoring</a> several attacks surrounding the Trump campaign, discovering fraudulent donation schemes and phishing attempts.</p>
<p>The latest scrutiny surrounding World LibertyFi and its World Liberty Coin is no different.</p>
<p>For weeks, the Trump brothers teased a financial venture that would challenge traditional banking. And when it debuted, scammers had plenty of new fodder to work with.</p>
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   <p lang="en" dir="ltr">Why does this sound like a huge rug</p>— SoundMoney 🧪🍌 (@s0undmoney) <a href="https://twitter.com/s0undmoney/status/1828944449696592248?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">August 28, 2024</a>
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<p>Carter, who remains a Trump supporter (because “Trump himself is only tangentially involved”) warns that the World Liberty project “genuinely damages” the Republican nominee’s electoral prospects. Polls indicate that the presidential race against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris is extremely tight.</p>
<p>“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,” he wrote on Sept. 3. “At best it’s an unnecessary distraction, at worst it’s a huge embarrassment and source of (additional) legal trouble,”</p>
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   <p lang="en" dir="ltr">is there something that we, as crypto twitter, can collectively do to stop the launch of world liberty coin? i think it genuinely damages trump's electoral prospects, especially if it gets hacked (it'll be the juiciest DeFi target ever and it's forked from a protocol that itself…</p>— nic carter (@nic__carter) <a href="https://twitter.com/nic__carter/status/1831145983847137451?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">September 4, 2024</a>
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<p>Read more: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://crypto.news/polymarket-shows-rising-odds-of-trump-nominating-musk-to-cabinet/"> Polymarket shows rising odds of Trump nominating Musk to cabinet </a></p>

Trump crypto venture peeves allies: ‘Huge mistake… the juiciest DeFi target ever’

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