Prime Highlights
- The Trump family’s cryptocurrency will be invested in buying a $2 billion stake in Binance by a fund backed by the UAE, triggering ethical and legal concerns.
- Eric Trump predicts Bitcoin at $1 million, attributing the Trump administration’s move to make the U.S. a global crypto leader.
Key Facts
- World Liberty Financial, founded by the Trump family, will utilize its USD1 stablecoin for the $2 billion Binance investment.
- The transaction is with MGX, UAE government-backed, and follows a period of sustained Binance U.S. regulatory pressure.
Key Background
Eric Trump and Zach Witkoff announced at the Token2049 conference in Dubai that UAE-backed fund MGX will use World Liberty Financial’s USD1 stablecoin to buy a $2 billion minority stake in Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange. World Liberty Financial, established in 2024, is a decentralized finance platform co-founded by the Trump family, with Donald Trump as “chief crypto advocate” and his sons serving significant roles. Being so openly tied to the Trump administration has amplified fears of conflict of interests, especially because Binance itself is now involved in a court fight in the U.S.
Binance has faced intense regulatory scrutiny, pleading guilty in 2023 to breaking anti-money-laundering laws and having federal supervision placed on it. Its CEO, Changpeng Zhao, served four months in jail and is reported to be requesting a pardon from President Trump. The imprimatur of a Trump-friendly cryptocurrency of a significant investment deal with Binance has raised red-hot ethical controversy, most notoriously the influence of foreign investment in determining U.S. policy.
World Liberty Financial’s operations are also complemented by the deal, as issuers of stablecoin earn money by investing the deposits paid for their digital tokens. With $2 billion on the table, the Trumps and their investors can earn tens of millions of dollars in interest alone annually. Since inception, HS Corporation has raised $550 million of cash in a sale of $WLFI tokens, part of which was utilized in the acquisition of a Trump-owned company. HS Corporation is selling some of these tokens to foreign nationals barred from the contribution of US political campaigns, and there are other legal issues with that.
Eric Trump has been a vocal supporter of cryptocurrency for many years, predicting Bitcoin would reach $1 million and calling his father the “crypto president.” He noted that the Trump administration would fight overregulation and put America on the world stage as a digital finance leader. The administration has already made some inroads, including implementing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve to ensure government-held Bitcoin as a reserve asset for the country.
Read Also : Microsoft Officially Ends Skype After Two Decades of Service
