Mixed reactions Tuesday to the launch of the World Liberty Financial cryptocurrency project have been rife with controversy, with U.S. President Donald Trump and his sons following suit.
Some fear World Liberty Financial is a high-risk, low-return endeavor, with venture capitalist Nic Carter saying that even a “little distraction” could cause “serious embarrassment” and waste. Others, however, see it as an opportunity for DeFi.
“World Liberty Financial has shown incredible support for the industry. But it has also been a selfish, conflict-of-interest decision that has taken away from the opportunity to create much-needed crypto policy and regulation,” said Robert Leshner, founder of decentralized lending platform Compound.
With less than three weeks to go until the US election and after Trump vowed to turn the country into a “Bitcoin superpower,” the launch of World Liberty Financial has raised hopes that a new era may be dawning for digital currencies.
A shaky start
Instead, the project has had a rocky start.
The project’s website crashed and went offline for hours on Tuesday, and World Liberty Financial sold just $11 million worth of tokens on its first day of trading, falling short of its $300 million target.
Furthermore, World Liberty Financial’s decision to lock up the token sale for 12 months may have dampened activity.
Meanwhile, the project’s goals appear clear. World Liberty Financial has planned to achieve a $1.5 billion valuation through an initial sale of 20 billion tokens.
More than 100,000 accredited investors have signed up to buy WLFI tokens ahead of the launch, a representative told X on Monday.
Weird
In any case, the crypto community has mixed views on the project.
“It’s weird to see a leading presidential candidate get involved in DeFi and promote a project. Overall, I think it’s a good thing,” said Mike Silagadze, founder of Ether.Fi, the fourth-largest DeFi protocol.
Vice President Kamala Harris leads Trump by 2% in a national poll by FiveThirtyEight. By contrast, in a Polymarket bet, the Republican candidate leads his Democratic rival by nearly 17%.
Platt argues that the launch of World Liberty Financial is a positive regardless of what happens to the project.
“Getting people into DeFi and charging fees is a positive move for DeFi. World Liberty Financial’s gold paper — a Trumpian take on crypto that outlines new products — says the project will provide information and access to third-party DeFi applications.
This includes a non-custodial crypto wallet, a lending pool, and a lending and borrowing protocol. The Aave lending protocol will be the first.
Not everyone is convinced, however. Anthony Scaramucci, founder of investment firm SkyBridge Capital, who served as White House communications director under Trump and has since become a Trump critic, has called the entire project a “scam.”
It’s a “money scam,” Scaramucci says. “He could get some of his donors to put money into it.” Ultimately, that money goes into his pocket and then he can fund things that he needs to do for himself. I mean, it’s a transparent scam and you should avoid it at all costs.”