WASHINGTON (AP) Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump On Monday, he launched his family's cryptocurrency venture, World Liberty Financial, and also made his first public comments about cryptocurrency during an interview on the X social media platform. It seems to be an assassination attempt. The day before, to him.
Trump did not offer details about World Liberty Financial or how it works, instead moving from questions about cryptocurrency to topics like artificial intelligence. Instead, he recounted an experience he had on Sunday, when he was playing golf with a friend when “we heard gunshots in the air. I think it was maybe four or five shots.”
“I wanted to make that last putt,” Trump said, crediting Secret Service agents who spotted the rifle barrel and began firing at it, as well as police and civilians who helped pursue the suspect.
World Liberty Financial is expected to be a lending and borrowing service used to trade cryptocurrencies, a form of digital money that can be traded over the internet without relying on the global banking system. Exchanges often charge fees for withdrawals of bitcoin and other currencies.
Other speakers, including Trump's eldest son, Donald Jr., who took the stage after Trump, spoke about embracing cryptocurrency as an alternative to a banking system that they see as unfriendly to conservatives.
Experts say it's not right for a presidential candidate to start a business while on the campaign trail. Ethical Conflict.
“Taking a pro-crypto stance isn't necessarily a problem. What's a problem is doing so while starting to figure out how to personally benefit from crypto,” Jordan Libowitz, a spokesman for the Washington-based government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, said earlier this month.
During his time in the White House, President Trump said he was “not a fan” of cryptocurrencies, tweeting in 2019 that “unregulated virtual assets could facilitate illegal activity, including drug trafficking and other illegal activities.” However, during this election cycle, President Trump has reversed course and expressed a favorable view of cryptocurrencies.
he Announced in May He said he would begin accepting donations in cryptocurrency as part of an effort to build a “crypto army” in time for Election Day. Attending the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville This year, he pledged to make the United States the “cryptocurrency capital of the planet” and to create a “strategic reserve” for Bitcoin using the government's current holdings of the currency.
Hilary Allen, a law professor at American University who has studied cryptocurrencies, said she was skeptical of Trump's change of heart on cryptocurrencies.
“I think it's fair to say this change in policy is motivated in part by financial gain,” she said.
Cryptocurrency enthusiasts have welcomed the change, seeing it as a boon for investors if Trump retakes the White House.
Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign has not offered any policy proposals on how to regulate digital assets like cryptocurrencies.
To appeal to crypto investors, a group of Democratic lawmakers, including New York Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, participated in an online “Crypto 4 Harris” event in August.
Neither Harris nor her campaign staff attended the event.
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Gomez Licon contributed from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
