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Trump-Backed World Liberty Financial Whitelists 100K Accredited Investors Ahead of WLFi Launch

World Liberty Financial will be a unified platform where users can borrow and lend cryptocurrencies, create liquidity pools and transact with stablecoins, Folkman and Herro added.

Updated Oct 14, 2024, 2:05 p.m. Published Oct 14, 2024, 2:02 p.m.
Screen grab from Trump's teaser of the new World Liberty Financial crypto company (Rug Radio, modified by CoinDesk using PhotoMosh)
Screen grab from Trump's teaser of the new World Liberty Financial crypto company (Rug Radio, modified by CoinDesk using PhotoMosh)
  • The Trump family-backed crypto project, World Liberty Financial, is set to launch its WLFI token presale on Tuesday, with over 100,000 accredited U.S. investors whitelisted.
  • The project aims to raise $300 million, valuing the venture at $1.5 billion.
  • WLFI will serve as a governance token for the platform, which will allow users to engage in borrowing, lending, and other DeFi activities.

The Trump family-backed World Liberty Financial has whitelisted over 100,000 accredited U.S. investors ahead of its Tuesday token launch, the project said in an X spaces on Monday.

The presale of World Liberty Financial’s WLFI token goes live in U.S. morning hours Tuesday, or exactly three weeks before the presidential election where Donald Trump is the Republican candidate.

Trump is "chief crypto advocate" of the project. Two of his sons, Eric and Donald Trump Jr., are "web3 ambassadors," while Barron holds the title of "DeFi visionary."

In the U.S., an accredited investor is authorized by the Securities and Exchange Commission to invest in unregistered securities such as pre-IPO shares. They must meet specific income and net worth criteria, such as $200,000 in annual earnings and total assets over $1 million.

Non-U.S. investors were subject to local regulations before being whitelisted, founders Zachary Folkman and Chase Herro said on the spaces call. Several notable crypto figures attended the spaces including Stani Kulechov, founder of Aave, Sandy Peng, co-founder layer-2 network Scroll and Luke Pearson, senior research cryptographer, Polychain Capital.

The project aims to raise $300 million from the token sales at a valuation of $1.5 billion. WLFI will function as the protocol's governance token and users to vote on changes to the protocol and further strategies.

World Liberty Financial will be a unified platform where users can borrow and lend cryptocurrencies, create liquidity pools and transact with stablecoins, Folkman and Herro added.

All governance decisions, however, will be in line with U.S. regulations to ensure any changes are complaint with laws.

Trump - who has previously dabbled in NFTs and held ether (ETH) on a public wallet - has vowed to make America a global powerhouse for bitcoin and cryptocurrencies if elected. Traders largely view a Trump win as bullish for the industry compared to Democrat Kamala Harris, who isn’t perceived as overly crypto friendly.

Trump is currently a marginal favorite to win the election, with Polymarket putting his chance at 53.8% compared to 45.6% for Harris.

Shaurya Malwa

Shaurya is the Co-Leader of the CoinDesk tokens and data team in Asia with a focus on crypto derivatives, DeFi, market microstructure, and protocol analysis. Shaurya holds over $1,000 in BTC, ETH, SOL, AVAX, SUSHI, CRV, NEAR, YFI, YFII, SHIB, DOGE, USDT, USDC, BNB, MANA, MLN, LINK, XMR, ALGO, VET, CAKE, AAVE, COMP, ROOK, TRX, SNX, RUNE, FTM, ZIL, KSM, ENJ, CKB, JOE, GHST, PERP, BTRFLY, OHM, BANANA, ROME, BURGER, SPIRIT, and ORCA. He provides over $1,000 to liquidity pools on Compound, Curve, SushiSwap, PancakeSwap, BurgerSwap, Orca, AnySwap, SpiritSwap, Rook Protocol, Yearn Finance, Synthetix, Harvest, Redacted Cartel, OlympusDAO, Rome, Trader Joe, and SUN.

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