An upcoming crypto project backed by the Trump family, previously referred to as “The DeFiant Ones,” has warned followers about the risks of “scams and fake tokens” claiming to be associated with the project.
In a Telegram post on the project’s official channel, now rebranded to “World Liberty Financial,” the team warned followers that “all official information will only be posted right here in this channel by our trusted team.”
“If it's not from us, it's not real,” the post added.
The World Liberty Financial branding was previously discovered through Twitter sleuthing. The project was first teased by the former President Donald Trump’s sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, earlier this month.
Trump Jr. confirmed in a recent post that the project is some type of “DeFi platform,” though concrete details still have yet to be released. It's unclear whether the platform will ultimately be called "The DeFiant Ones" or "World Liberty Financial," or perhaps something else entirely.
DeFi, or decentralized finance, uses blockchain networks and cryptocurrency to facilitate the functions of traditional financial institutions, such as lending, borrowing, or saving. These actions are typically handled by automated smart contracts, which hold the code that powers protocols such as decentralized exchanges (or DEXs).
The project gained more attention after Trump himself—the Republican presidential candidate—promoted the project to his 7.57 million followers through his Truth Social account on Thursday.
“For too long, the average American has been squeezed by the big banks and financial elites.” Trump said in the post, linking to the official Telegram channel. “It's time we take a stand—together. #BeDefiant.”
DJT: For too long, the average American has been squeezed by the big banks and financial elites. It's time we take a stand—together. #BeDefiant https://t.co/DuEtfRfrjt pic.twitter.com/txPz5FVSsK
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) August 22, 2024
In an interview with the New York Post, Eric Trump implied the project may involve providing lending services to traditionally underserved communities.
“Essentially over half of this country right now cannot be banked, meaning they will be rejected for most loans from most institutions,” said Eric Trump. “But with this technology, they could have the ability to almost instantaneously be approved or denied from a lender based on math, not policy. Money could be in their account in minutes, not months.”
The warning on Telegram did not specify a particular "scam coin," but there have already been incidents of the upcoming Trump family crypto project leading to confusion among crypto investors.
A Solana-based token called Restore the Republic (RTR) soared to a market capitalization of $155 million earlier this month following online speculation it was linked to the Trump family project. But the price then plummeted by 90% after the Trumps denied the connection.
RTR had been boosted by a tweet by Ryan Fournier—chairman of “Students for Trump”—that linked the coin directly to the Trump family. The post was deleted shortly after.
This isn’t Trump’s first official crypto project. He formally launched a series of Trump-themed NFTs in December 2022 and followed it up with two further drops, all of which saw an upshot in interest following the assassination attempt on the former president in July.
Edited by Stacy Elliott and Andrew Hayward