SEC Limits, Technical Hitches Combine for Lackluster Trump Token Sale

Donald Trump’s decentralized finance (DeFi) project appears to have gotten off to a slow start, with a little over 4% of its tokens snapped up on the first day.

Data from Dune shows that 819 million of the 20 billion tokens offered by World Liberty Financial have so far been bought—or just over $12 million in sales.

World Liberty Financial launched Tuesday to accredited investors in the United States. The hope, according to the team behind the project, is that all U.S. citizens will eventually be able to get involved.

Today’s the day! @WorldLibertyFi token sale is live. Get your $WLFI tokens now. Purchase $WLFI here: https://t.co/jg1tOaHHBy pic.twitter.com/j8ewxa13wp

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 15, 2024

For now, though, only well-off investors can get in on the action due to stringent SEC requirements, which include having a net worth (less primary home value) of at least $1 million, and an annual salary of at least $200,000 solo (or $300,000 if married) over the past two years with an expectation of retaining that streak in the current year.

Such requirements may have been to the detriment of the project, analysts suggest.

Nansen analyst Edward Wilson told Decrypt in an emailed statement that it was “surprising” that the launch was “so underwhelming,” considering that Trump has branded himself as a fiercely crypto-friendly candidate ahead of next month’s election.

“This might suggest that Trump’s core audience isn’t as engaged with crypto as expected, possibly due to limitations on retail investors participating,” said Wilson.

“While this is an understandable barrier, it raises questions about the broader interest in the space from this demographic,” he continued. “However, the initial target valuation of $1.5 billion will most likely [have] had a greater impact and turned off many speculators within crypto as they are likely going to find greater returns elsewhere.”

The launch was also marred Tuesday by what appeared to be a website crash, perhaps due to demand, as the World Liberty Financial website was inaccessible for hours in the morning. That may have also impacted early sales as prospective buyers were spurned. The project said that over 100,000 prospective buyers were on the allowlist.

Decrypt reached out to World Liberty Financial for comment on Tuesday, but did not receive a response.

World Liberty Financial is an Ethereum-based DeFi project, which, according to Trump, will “help make America the crypto capital of the world.”

Details were vague at first when the ex-President’s son, Eric Trump, announced the project back in August. But the team behind the project said in an exclusive interview with Rug Radio (Decrypt’s sister company) that the project will provide borrowing and lending crypto services.

Many DeFi projects allow investors to earn interest on their crypto and make big returns—but the subsphere of the digital asset industry is risky and prone to hacks.

Donald Trump has wooed digital asset investors by saying all future Bitcoin should be minted on U.S. soil and that he would fire Gary Gensler, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s tough-on-crypto Chairman. That’s a seismic shift from the Trump of the past, who said he was “not a fan” of Bitcoin and suggested it was a scam.

Edited by Andrew Hayward

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