Trump’s Crypto Platform Launches, Mostly Inaccessible to Americans

The stakeholders of World Liberty Financial, including former President Donald Trump, his sons, and business associates, have made significant claims regarding the cryptocurrency platform’s groundbreaking potential. According to Trump in a post on Truth Social, the platform aims to free the “average American” from “big banks and financial elites.” Additionally, Donald Trump Jr. stated in an X Space that it would benefit unbanked and debanked individuals. However, specifics about how these promises will be realized and the exact functionality of World Liberty Financial remain undisclosed. Currently, the service is accepting sign-ups—but not from everyone.

Despite the lack of detailed information, World Liberty Financial has announced that its whitelists are now open on X and Truth Social. The platform is allowing US-based accredited investors and non-US persons to begin the know-your-customer (KYC) verification process. Notably, no detailed explanation has been provided by Trump or other project members about the platform’s services.

According to statements from World Liberty Financial, the platform’s goal is to drive “mass adoption of stable coins and decentralized finance.” During a lengthy announcement on X Space, Corey Caplan, an adviser to World Liberty Financial, mentioned that the platform would distribute governance tokens named WLFI. CoinDesk has previously reported that World Liberty Financial would be built on the Ethereum blockchain and Aave, focusing on a “credit account system.”

CoinDesk also acquired a whitepaper indicating that 70 percent of WLFI tokens would be held by the founding members, team, and service providers of World Liberty Financial. However, Caplan contradicted this during the announcement stream, stating that 63 percent of tokens would be available for public sale.

Additional information about World Liberty Financial is intended solely for those who have pre-qualified by completing the KYC process, according to the platform’s website. In a post on X, World Liberty Financial attributed limitations on whitelist access to “outdated policy and regulations in the US,” resulting in the restriction to accredited investors and non-US persons.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) defines accredited investors as individuals with net worths of at least $1 million, excluding the value of their primary residence, either individually or jointly with a spouse or partner. Additionally, they must have an annual income of at least $200,000 individually or $300,000 with a spouse or partner over the past two years. Other criteria apply to professionals and business entities.

As per SEC estimates, over 24 million American households qualified as accredited investors in 2022, accounting for nearly 20 percent of US households, partly due to recent inflation trends. Nonetheless, the target group remains a small fraction compared to the unbanked and underserved communities that Trump and his sons claimed World Liberty Financial aims to assist. Importantly, the exact nature of the platform’s services remains unknown.

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