How to ‘make finance great again’: Trump’s new cryptocurrency debuts

euronews.com:

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump took to the X social media platform to make the announcement, in which he gave very few concrete details about how the platform would work.

World Liberty Financial is expected to be a crypto banking platform, where people can borrow, lend and invest in crypto.

Cryptocurrencies are forms of digital money that can be traded over the internet without relying on the global banking system. Exchanges often charge fees for withdrawals of Bitcoin and other currencies.

The new crypto platform is going to be controlled by the Republican nominee’s sons Eric and Donald Jr., who said it will "make finance great again."

The project is going to issue a digital token called WLFI, founders said on Monday evening. CNBC reported that 20% of the project’s tokens are allotted to the founding team, which includes the Trumps.

Crypto assets are traded using so-called smart contracts on a blockchain, leaving out brokerages, banks and other intermediaries. This is called decentralised finance, often shortly called DeFi.

The trading often depends on online marketplaces that charge fees for transactions, so that the cryptocurrencies can be exchanged for US dollars and other currencies.

Critics say that these platforms are often prone to hacks, and that the system is far underregulated in the US, compared to Europe where theMarkets in Crypto-Assets Regulation is already in place.

Digital assets therefore are seen as highly risky compared to traditional investments. Despite the uncertainties, crypto is gradually increasing its fan club, according to data from the review website security.org, approximately 93 million people, 40% of adults in now own crypto in the US, up from 30% in 2023. 

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