Trump’s New Crypto Venture Faces Early Setbacks Amid Lackluster Response
Trump’s Crypto Venture Faces Early Setbacks Amid Lackluster Response
Donald Trump’s new cryptocurrency initiative, World Liberty Financial (WLF), has hit a snag since its launch, facing significant challenges in attracting investors and navigating technical hurdles.
The project, aiming to establish a crypto bank and garnering significant attention due to Trump’s involvement, saw a disappointing response to its token sale, which began on Tuesday. Website outages and technical issues plagued the launch, hindering participation from the anticipated number of investors.
Despite co-founder Zachary Folkman’s claims of over 100,000 individuals on the whitelist for the investment opportunity, blockchain data from Etherscan revealed a stark reality. Only about 4,300 unique wallet addresses held the WLF token by Tuesday afternoon, representing a mere 4% of the registered investors.
The platform reported selling over 532 million tokens at a price of 15 cents each, translating to less than 3% of the total 20 billion tokens available for public sale. Throughout the day, users encountered consistent disruptions, with the website frequently displaying a “We are under maintenance” message.
WLF has remained silent on these technical difficulties, adding to the concerns surrounding the project’s viability. These setbacks arrive at a crucial juncture for Trump, who is the Republican presidential nominee and has heavily promoted the project since August under the branding “The DeFiant Ones,” a nod to decentralized finance (DeFi).
The project’s roadmap outlines an ambitious goal of raising up to $300 million at a $1.5 billion valuation during the initial sale. However, the lackluster response and technical issues raise doubts about its ability to achieve these ambitious targets.
Folkman, with a varied entrepreneurial background, has allocated 20% of WLF’s tokens to the founding team, which includes members of the Trump family. The WLF token, WLFI, is structured as a Regulation D offering, allowing it to raise capital without registering as a security with the SEC, provided it meets certain conditions, such as limiting the sale size and restricting participation to accredited investors.
Despite the lack of a comprehensive business plan or a white paper, individuals associated with the project have hinted at its potential to facilitate borrowing, lending, and investing in cryptocurrencies. The key disclosure has been that investors will receive voting rights on the forthcoming WLF platform.
In a bid for legitimacy, WLF has initiated the process of obtaining approval from Aave, a prominent DeFi ecosystem and lending platform known for its open-source framework and reputation in the crypto community.
The early setbacks faced by WLF raise questions about its long-term prospects and whether it can overcome these challenges to fulfill its ambitious goals.