World Liberty Financial (WLF) is a new cryptocurrency venture that Donald Trump and his sons have started. On Tuesday, the business started selling tokens in an attempt to raise $300 million.
After twenty-four hours, only $12 million, or 4% of the 20 billion tokens they were offering, had been secured.
Despite Trump's continued attempts to portray himself as pro-crypto, business leaders are no longer buying it. They fear that he will just serve to further undermine the already tarnished reputation of cryptocurrency.
The last thing we need after a string of scams and financial meltdowns is another well-publicized failure. With Trump's participation and dubious executives, everyone is on edge.
Worries about the leadership of WLF
Two of World Liberty Financial's major participants have less than sterling pasts. In the past, one of them taught guys how to "pick up" women. The other has been sued for unlawful drug sales and fraud.
Although the network is referred to as "decentralized," the tokens it offers holders have no economic rights and aren't even tradeable. That is a serious problem for a sector that values openness and freedom.
It appears that Trump's function as the "chief crypto advocate" is restricted to social media marketing, which, surprisingly, indicates he is just exploiting his position for his own benefit.
Over the past two years, cryptocurrency has been through a lot, particularly following the 2022 crash. With some businesses facing litigation and leaders risking jail time for failing to protect their investors, the industry has only just begun to recover.
Those who have survived have been striving for established banking systems to accept them and to regulate them. Then Trump entered the picture.
He has pledged to stop what he refers to as the industry's "persecution." Although Kamala Harris was selected by Wall Street, he has received financial support from prominent Silicon Valley figures for the crypto march.
The dubious individuals behind WLF
Zachary Folkman and Chase Herro are two co-founders with a history of trouble. For distributing drugs, the former was imprisoned at the age of 18, and in order to escape to California, he even severed his ankle monitor.
In addition, he was sued for fraud in 2010 after it was claimed that he had misused $170,000 in assets for his own gain.
He was forced to pay damages totaling $207,366. American Express then filed a lawsuit against Folkman in 2021 for $12,562 in credit card debt.
These people are completely unknown in the crypto sector. Even worse, in July, their former business, Dough Finance, was hacked for $2 million.
The two's YouTube videos also don't support their claims. Herro and Folkman are even shown in one film posing as women in order to get dates.
The WLFI does not work as a money on their site, and you are not even able to sell it back to the business. Their website crashed on the first day.
Trump lags behind Harris.
Despite his efforts, Trump is still lagging behind Harris, according to polling data. The most recent YouGov MRP shows that Harris is ahead of Trump by 50% to 47%, or 250 electoral votes to Trump's 219, with 69 electoral votes being deemed tossups.
Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and the 2nd District of Nebraska are tossup states that could go either way.
Harris has a smaller lead, according to a different survey by The Economist/YouGov, which polls all American adults between 48% and 45%.
Particularly in this poll, Harris has risen to 60% support among Hispanic voters, compared to Trump's 35%, giving her a large 25-point advantage in this important group.
Because of Harris’ colorful appeal, Trump is having serious problems with important vote groups. However, there is still space for improvement.
As November 5 draws near, there may still be changes in the race, as about 4% of respondents are still unsure. Although both candidates are making a lot of effort, Trump's efforts to gain ground—particularly among minority groups—seem to be coming to a standstill.
While Trump concentrates on his core supporters, hammering themes like immigration and the economy, Harris is trying to strengthen her base and win over disenchanted Republicans.
However, Trump is 19% points ahead of Harris with 59% versus 40% on the cryptocurrency industry's Polymarket.
