The Trump family recently announced a new decentralised finance (DeFi) initiative, World Liberty Financial, with a bold vision to make the United States the global hub for cryptocurrency. Although the project’s website is live, it has yet to reveal comprehensive details about its operations. The project, led by former President Donald Trump's children, has already faced significant challenges, casting doubt on its future.
Hackers Exploit Trump Family X Accounts: Fraudulent $WL Token Surge and Market Crash
On the day of the announcement, the X (formerly Twitter) accounts of Tiffany Trump, Donald Trump's youngest daughter, and Lara Trump, his second daughter-in-law, were hacked. The hackers used Lara Trump's account to promote fraudulent information about the World Liberty Financial project, falsely claiming that the $WL token had been issued on the Solana blockchain.
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This fraudulent announcement led to a brief but dramatic surge in the token's value, increasing by over 4000% within an hour before crashing by more than 97%. The token's trading volume reached $3.6 million in just one day, yet its market capitalisation now stands at a mere $151,000.
Eric Trump, Lara Trump’s husband and Executive Vice President of the Trump Organization, expressed his amazement at how quickly X was able to lock the compromised accounts. The scam-related tweets have since been deleted, and the official World Liberty Financial team has urged the public not to click on any links shared from the hacked accounts or purchase any associated tokens.
Project Details Emerge Amid Scandal
Despite the setback, preliminary details about World Liberty Financial have surfaced. According to a whitepaper still under review, the project will be built on the Ethereum blockchain and integrate with the decentralised lending platform Aave. The project will feature a "credit account system" designed to facilitate decentralised lending activities.
The whitepaper and a now-deleted GitHub repository indicate that World Liberty Financial is inspired by the DeFi protocol Dough Finance. However, it remains unclear whether the final product will use Dough Finance's codebase. The project also plans to issue a "non-transferable" governance token, WLFI.
Zachary Folkman and Chase Herro, co-founders of Dough Finance, are listed as the project’s operations and strategy directors. Despite their involvement, Dough Finance’s history has raised concerns, particularly after a flash loan attack in July 2023 resulted in a $1.8 million loss.
Donald Trump himself is expected to serve as the "Chief Cryptocurrency Advocate" for World Liberty Financial, while his sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., are positioned as the project's main driving forces, taking on roles as "Web3 Ambassadors."
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The hacking incident and the controversial history of those involved with World Liberty Financial have cast a shadow over the project, making its future uncertain. The involvement of high-profile figures may attract attention, but the project's success will likely depend on overcoming these early setbacks and proving its legitimacy in the highly scrutinised cryptocurrency space.