Trump’s crypto platform is open, but not to most Americans

The people behind World Liberty Financial – former President Donald Trump, his sons, and his business associates – have made many promises about the potential to transform the cryptocurrency space. It will free the “ordinary American” from the “big banks and financial giants,” Trump said on Truth Social. It will help the unbanked and the intoxicated, said Donald Trump Jr. in X Space. What no one involved in the project has said is how this will happen or what, exactly, World Liberty Financial is doing. Now, the mystery service is accepting subscriptions – but not for everyone.

Despite little information about World Liberty Financial, its whites are now open, the company announced on X and Truth Social on Monday. The platform now allows accredited US and non-US investors to initiate the know-your-customer (KYC) verification process. It is worth repeating: neither Trump nor anyone else involved in World Liberty Financial has given an in-depth explanation of what service the platform provides..

Here’s what we know: World Liberty Financial said its mission is to promote “the mass adoption of stablecoins and the theft of funds.” Towards the end of X Space’s two-plus hour announcement of the project, Global Financial Advisor Corey Caplan said it will “sell and distribute governance tokens called WLFI.” CoinDesk it was previously reported that World Liberty Financial will be built on the Ethereum blockchain and Aave, a decentralized financial platform, and will focus on a “credit account system.”

CoinDesk also received a white paper on the project, which stated that 70 percent of WLFI will be managed by World Liberty Financial’s founding members, team, and service providers. But during the broadcast announcing the stage, Caplan said that “fake media” got the wrong information and that 63 percent of the tokens will be sold to the public.

“Additional information about World Liberty Financial is only intended to be available to individuals who have pre-qualified by completing the KYC process,” the World Liberty Financial website said. In the post on X, World Liberty Financial blamed “outdated US policy and regulations” that limited approval to accredited investors and non-US persons.

The Securities and Exchange Commission defines accredited investors as people with a net worth of at least $1 million – excluding their net worth. primary residence – either alone 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 last two years. There are other requirements for professionals and business organizations.

As of 2022, more than 24 million American households will qualify as accredited investors, according to SEC estimates. That’s a small number of Americans – about 20 percent of US households, a number that accounts for recent inflation. But it’s still a long way from the underserved and underserved communities Trump and his sons say World Liberty Financial is supposed to help. And, one last repeat: we still don’t know what it does.