The
people
behind
World
Liberty
Financial
—
former
President
Donald
Trump,
his
sons,
and
his
business
associates
—
have
made
a
lot
of
promises
about
the
cryptocurrency
platform’s
revolutionary
potential.
It
will
liberate
“the
average
American”
from
“the
big
banks
and
financial
elites,”
Trump
posted
on
Truth
Social.
It
will
help
unbanked
and
debanked
people,
Donald
Trump
Jr.
said
in
an
X
Space.
What
no
one
involved
with
the
project
has
said
is
how
this
will
happen
or
what,
exactly,
World
Liberty
Financial
does.
Now,
the
mystery
service
is
accepting
signups
—
but
not
from
everyone.
Despite
scant
details
about
World
Liberty
Financial,
its
whitelists
are
now
open,
the
company
announced
on
X
and
Truth
Social
on
Monday.
The
platform
is
now
letting
US-based
accredited
investors
and
non-US
persons
begin
the
know-your-customer
(KYC)
verification
process.
It’s
worth
reiterating:
neither
Trump
nor
anyone
else
involved
in
World
Liberty
Financial
has
given
an
in-depth
explanation
of
what
service
the
platform
actually
provides.
Here’s
what
we
do
know:
World
Liberty
Financial
has
said
its
goal
is
to
drive
“mass
adoption
of
stable
coins
and
decentralized
finance.”
Near
the
end
of
a
two-hour-plus
X
Space
announcing
the
project,
World
Liberty
Financial
adviser
Corey
Caplan
said
it
would
“sell
and
otherwise
distribute
governance
tokens
called
WLFI.”
CoinDesk
previously
reported
that
World
Liberty
Financial
would
be
built
on
the
Ethereum
blockchain
and
Aave,
a
decentralized
finance
platform,
and
would
center
around
a
“credit
account
system.”
CoinDesk
also
obtained
a
whitepaper
about
the
project,
which
said
that
70
percent
of
WLFI
would
be
held
by
World
Liberty
Financial’s
founding
members,
team,
and
service
providers.
But
during
the
stream
announcing
the
platform,
Caplan
said
the
“fake
news
media”
got
the
details
wrong
and
that
63
percent
of
tokens
would
be
sold
to
the
public.
“Additional
information
about
World
Liberty
Financial
is
only
intended
to
be
available
to
persons
who
have
been
pre-qualified
by
completing
a
KYC
process,”
World
Liberty
Financial’s
website
states.
In
a
post
on
X,
World
Liberty
Financial
blamed
“outdated
policy
and
regulations
in
the
US”
that
limited
whitelists
to
accredited
investors
and
non-US
persons.
The
Securities
and
Exchange
Commission
defines
accredited
investors
as
individuals
with
net
worths
of
at
least
$1
million
—
excluding
the
value
of
their
primary
residence
—
either
individually
or
with
their
spouse
or
partner.
Their
annual
income
must
be
at
least
$200,000
individually
or
$300,000
with
a
spouse
or
partner
for
at
least
the
past
two
years.
There
are
other
requirements
for
professionals
and
business
entities.
As
of
2022,
more
than
24
million
American
households
qualified
as
accredited
investors,
according
to
the
SEC’s
estimates.
That’s
a
not
insignificant
amount
of
Americans
—
nearly
20
percent
of
households
in
the
US,
a
number
that’s
attributed
partly
to
recent
inflation.
But
it’s
still
a
far
cry
from
the
unbanked
and
underserved
communities
Trump
and
his
sons
claimed
World
Liberty
Financial
is
supposed
to
help.
And,
to
reiterate
one
final
time:
we
still
don’t
know
what
it
does.
(Originally posted by Gaby Del Valle)
Comments