Donald Trump Jr. has denied that his family’s venture into cryptocurrency could result in multibillion-dollar conflicts of interest.
President Donald Trump’s eldest son dismissed concerns that investors may back World Liberty Financial—the digital token launched by the Trump family—to curry favor with the administration as “complete nonsense.”
“I don’t think anyone actually believes that my father or [co-founder of World Liberty Financial Zach Witkoff’s] father would be looking at ledgers on the blockchain to see who bought what, and that carrying any kind of favor,” Trump Jr. told CNBC at the Token2049 crypto conference in Singapore.
Zach Witkoff is the son of U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff. He also rejected claims that his close connection to the Trump administration could amount to a conflict of interest as the crypto venture seeks global investors.
“Don and my World Liberty mission is big, but our dads’ mission is much bigger. They’re not focused on stablecoins, nor are they involved in a stablecoin business,” Witkoff told CNBC.
World Liberty Financial, which publicly trades as WLFI, says it was “inspired by the vision” of the president and lists him as its co-founder emeritus. The 79-year-old’s three sons—Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Barron Trump—are also credited as co-founders.
The Trumps control about 60 percent of the company through an LLC that holds around 22.5 billion WLFI tokens, and they are entitled to 75 percent of sales of WLFI, which are sold on the open market like a listed company’s shares, Forbes reported.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump family’s wealth rose sharply, by as much as $5 billion, after trading opened on World Liberty Financial. The Journal added that cryptocurrency—rather than the family’s real estate portfolio, which includes hotels and golf resorts around the world—is now likely the Trumps’ most valuable asset.
In September, Trump snapped at an Australian reporter who asked if it was “appropriate” that the president is enriching himself while in office.
“Well, I’m really not. My kids are running the business. I’m here,” Trump replied before asking the reporter where he was from. “In my opinion, you are hurting Australia very much right now, and they want to get along with me.”
In its annual Rich List update, Forbes estimated that Trump’s net worth has increased by $3 billion in the last year, putting him at his highest-ever valuation of $7.3 billion.
