ZoneBitcoin EditorialFormer US President Donald Trump announced plans to launch a new cryptocurrency platform on Thursday, sparking both excitement and skepticism. In a message published on Social Truth, Trump said the project, dubbed “The DeFiant Ones,” aimed to challenge financial elites and provide opportunities to the underserved.
However, the details of the project remain unclear, leaving questions surrounding the exact nature of this initiative. For many members of the community, this is yet another shitcoin launched by a candidate who is a fan of cryptographic projects for commercial purposes.
DeFiant Ones: Targeting unbanked communities
Trump and two of his sons have suggested that this cryptocurrency platform would target unbanked and disadvantaged communities. According to Eric Trump, more than half of the country currently cannot access traditional banking services, excluding them from many loans and financial opportunities.
Blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies could offer them near-instant access to financing, based on algorithms rather than discriminatory policies.
A controversial idea and Trump's credibility called into question
Although the idea of using cryptocurrencies to drive financial inclusion is widespread in the industry, reports question its actual effectiveness in developed countries. THE Center for American Progress (CAP), a liberal think tank, found that there was “no systematic evidence that crypto transactions are less costly than traditional financial transactions.”
Additionally, crypto assets are primarily used for speculative purposes rather than payments.
Even more, Donald Trump's credibility in this matter is strongly questioned. Indeed, “Trump University”, a supposedly philanthropic project, has been accused of fraud and “scandalous project” towards the students and had to pay $25 million to settle the dispute.
Lately, Trump had also taken advantage of the NFT frenzy to launch his own NFT collections. He earned $7,2 million from three NFT collections. However, buyers of these NFTs have been less fortunate, with some tokens losing value almost immediately after purchase. Last April, the trading volume of Trump NFTs fell by 99%.
This precedent fuels doubts about the true intentions of the new “DeFiant Ones” project. Wouldn’t this be yet another way to get rich in the crypto community?
A vague project with an uncertain purpose
So far, little concrete information has been released about the exact nature of the project. The link Trump shared on Truth Social redirects to a Telegram channel dubbed “the only official channel for Trump’s DeFi project.”
However, no details are provided on the type of platform envisaged: decentralized autonomous organization, cryptocurrency, exchange market, blog or other. For many people, it is nothing more or less than a commercial enterprise in disguise.
A disappointment for bitcoiners
This is not Trump's first foray into the world of cryptocurrencies. He was the highly anticipated speaker and featured at this year's Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, which is the largest bitcoin conference around the world. At the event, he promised in a thunderous speech to sack --Gary Gensler, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a long-time enemy of the crypto community. According to his latest financial disclosures, Trump owns between $1 million and $5 million in mostly ETH.
It also has memescoins in his likeness that he received from the creators of MAGA tokens, designed to promote his person and his political program.
Since the event where he was presented as a “pro-bitcoin” president, it turns out that he does not seem to care specifically about bitcoin. He seems more interested in cryptocurrencies and in personal projects concerning him…
Once again, we also see the limits of the political exploitation of Bitcoin. Over time, it has become a way to obtain votes from the crypto community. It is now up to them to understand the issues behind these speeches, which are often, unfortunately, only promises with a view to winning elections….
