Trump’s World Liberty Financial plans to create ‘strategic’ token reserve
CHASE Herro, co-founder of President Donald Trump’s DeFi project, World Liberty Financial, said the platform plans on creating a “strategic reserve” with tokens bought.
Herro was introduced by Donald Trump Jr, who sat on a panel with World Liberty co-founders Zak Folkman, Zach Witkoff and Herro at startup Ondo Finance’s inaugural summit in New York. Zach is the son of Steve Witkoff, a close-ally to Trump who helped connect the President’s family to World Liberty Financial’s founders, but has since been picked to be Trump’s envoy to the Middle East.
Herro did not specify what the objective would be for World Liberty to have a token reserve. The topic has been a popular once since the President pledged to form one while campaigning last year. He signed an executive action last month that called for evaluating the creation of a digital asset stockpile.
The appearance of Donald Trump’s eldest son at Ondo Summit, held on Thursday (Feb 6) at Jazz at Lincoln Center, is the latest effort by the President to show his support for for the digital asset industry. Trump Jr’s speech comes after World Liberty Financial, President Trump’s DeFi project, bought US$470,000 worth of ONDO, the token associated with Ondo Finance, earlier today.
Conference attendees swarmed Trump Jr as soon as he walked in, with many trying to get photos with the President’s son. Donald Trump Jr talked to industry members about World Liberty Financial and his excitement to work with crypto players.
Earlier this week, World Liberty Financial added tens of million of US dollars worth of the Ether cryptocurrency after crypto markets crashed during the weekend as the US president briefly imposed tariffs on Mexico and Canada. Although World Liberty has been marketed as a DeFi lending platform, it has not become operational yet. So far, the project is known for purchasing niche tokens.
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Since the platform’s launch in October, observers have raised questions about World Liberty’s potential conflicts of interest for the Trump family, given the administration’s sway over regulations. Trump’s sons, Donald Jr, Eric, and Barron, are all listed as Web3 Advisors to World Liberty Financial. The family has been actively promoting the project through social media and public appearances.
Ondo Finance announced plans to launch Ondo Chain, its own layer-1 blockchain. Chair of the House Financial Services Committee Patrick McHenry, acting Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Caroline Pham, and “crypto dad” J Christopher Giancarlo were among some of the speakers at the conference, which discussed the future of tokenization, as well as regulation.
“The promises are being delivered on,” Giancarlo said of the Trump administration’s plans for the crypto industry. “It’s one thing to get rid of bad policy of the last four years. It’s getting to good policy that is challenging.”
Meanwhile, William Hinman, a senior advisor to venture capital firm Andreeson Horowitz, stressed that changes in the crypto industry in Washington will not happen overnight.
“There will be some improvements, but I think that’s gonna take time,” Hinman said of the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act. “It’s in the same way that it’s gonna take time for the SEC to turn over a new leaf to really come through with some concrete evidence that now this is a more hospitable regulatory approach.” BLOOMBERG