An Abu Dhabi state-backed investment firm is making a major $2 billion investment in a crypto business deal that could serve as a major boost for Trump family crypto venture World Liberty Financial, according to Zach Witkoff, co-founder of World Liberty Financial.
USD1, World Liberty Financial’s so-called “stablecoin” — a digital asset designed to maintain a stable value — is expected to be used to complete Emirati investment firm MGX’s $2 billion investment transaction in crypto exchange Binance, Witkoff said during an appearance with President Donald Trump’s son Eric Trump at a crypto convention in Dubai this week.
“We are excited to announce today that USD1 has been selected as the official stablecoin to close MGX’s $2 billion investment in Binance,” Witkoff announced in a video recording of the event posted on X. “We thank MGX and Binance for their trust in us, and I think it’s only the beginning.”
After once deriding cryptocurrency as a “scam,” President Donald Trump last September announced he and his sons Eric and Don Jr. were throwing their support behind World Liberty Financial, though its business model was largely unclear. This week’s development is the latest example of a foreign entity making a major investment that could boost a Trump family business.
Cryptocurrency and ethics experts told ABC News that the timing and scope of the Trump family’s foray into cryptocurrencies raise questions about whether investors — including those from overseas — could try to leverage their investments to curry favor with the administration. Critics have raised issues with the Trump administration’s regulatory role over cryptocurrencies while he stands to personally benefit from cryptocurrency ventures.
I keep writing about this because I think it’s important that even the casual reader who just stops by from time to time sees it. It’s an under-reported story and sadly, it appears that for the most part people really don’t care.
The comments under that tweet above are interesting for one reason. Almost all of them are shrieking about Hunter Biden and the “Biden crime family.” I had always assumed that the Hunter story was simple payback for the Trump investigations during his first term and beyond. I hadn’t appreciated how much the overkill, the relentless pounding, actually served as innoculation against the open, flagrant corruption of a new Trump administration which everyone in the GOP anticipated. (The first term had foreshadowed what was to come.) They can get away with what they’re doing now because as far as the Republicans are concerned they can say that Joe and Hunter were even worse so no harm no foul.
It’s going to take some very, very serious reforms to deal with this. Now that they know they can make billions selling the presidency I don’t think we can count on going back without it. The first step, of course, must be a total repudiation of the Republican party — but I’ve been saying that for over a decade and it hasn’t happened so I’m not sure what it will take.
Update — Trump doesn’t seem to understand crypto even though he’s making billions. This is the next generation Trump grift. And as so many heirs to great fortunes do (Trump being one of them) they’re going to fail.