Trump promotes family’s cryptocurrency tokens

Former President Trump touted his family’s new cryptocurrency tokens, encouraging users to “embrace this incredible technology” in a video message Tuesday.

The WLFI tokens, released Tuesday morning, are part of the Trump family’s new crypto endeavor, World Liberty Financial.

“Big news, the World Liberty Financial token sale is now live. Crypto is the future, let’s embrace this incredible technology and lead the world in digital economy,” Trump said in a Tuesday night video on the social platform X.

It followed another post from the former president over the weekend, when he told users purchasing the tokens is their “chance to help shape the future of finance.”

World Liberty Financial, spearheaded by two of Trump’s sons — Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. — was launched nearly a month ago as the former president seeks to capture voters in the industry ahead of the November election.

The WLFI token is available only on World Liberty’s official site, which faced a series of technological issues following Tuesday’s launch.

CNBC reported the site experienced numerous and lengthy outages throughout the day. The website appeared to be back online Wednesday morning.

The WLFI launch is the latest instance of Trump and his family selling a wide range of products just weeks before Election Day, raising eyebrows among ethics experts.

The move into the crypto industry also marked a significant shift for the former president, who said on social media in 2019 he was “not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies,” calling them “not money.”

After once dismissing crypto as a “scam,” Trump vowed this year to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the planet” if reelected in November. He made the pledge during a bitcoin conference in July when he announced a series of crypto proposals.

In the project’s launch on X Spaces last month, Trump emphasized the importance of the U.S. getting ahead of crypto development before other nations do so.

“If we don’t do it, China is going to do it,” he said last month. “China’s going to do it anyway. But if we don’t do it, we’re not going to be the biggest, and we have to be the biggest and the best.”

Trump’s project comes as the crypto industry expresses increasing frustration with the approach the Biden administration and Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler have taken toward crypto enforcement.

The Biden administration has taken a cautious approach to cryptocurrency during a period in which the sector has largely been defined by high-profile scandals that have hurt investors.

In 2022, President Biden signed an executive order requesting government agencies evaluate the risks and benefits of cryptocurrencies, financial stability, and illicit activity.