Trump crypto firm quiet on Shehbaz talks, CEO of partner talks of Pakistan image makeover
EVEN AS World Liberty Financial Inc (WLFI), a cryptocurrency company majority-owned by US President Donald Trump and his family, sits on a request from a Senate sub-committee to share its communications with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif that led to a deal signed on April 26, CEO of Pakistan Crypto Council Bilal bin Saqib Thursday drew parallels between Pakistan and Bitcoin as 'victims of bad PR.'
'Both Pakistan and Bitcoin have suffered from bad PR. We are looked at as being dangerous, risky and unstable. But once we look beyond these headlines, we can see a lot of potential, resources and talent. So Pakistan is looking for allies,' he said at the annual gathering of the global cryptocurrency community in Las Vegas.
Part of the Forbes '30 under 30' list of social entrepreneurs in 2020, Bilal Bin Saqib was appointed the first CEO of the Pakistan Crypto Council (PCC) by Prime Minister Sharif on March 26. Last week, he held a 'high-level meeting' with Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir to outline the future of Pakistan's digital economy.
In April, WLFI's key officials visited Islamabad and Lahore to sign a Letter of Intent with the Pakistan Crypto Council, which was set up just about a month ago in March. WLFI lists Donald J Trump, Donald Jr Trump, Eric Trump and DT Marks DEFI LLC as promoters of the company in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in October 2024.
In January this year, it made the Trump ownership public on its website, and named Donald J Trump as 'Chief Crypto Advocate.' His sons Donal (Jr) and Eric, and grandson Barron are part of the WLFI team as 'Web3 Ambassador'. Web3 wallets allow access to apps and store cryptocurrencies.
The partnership with Pakistan Crypto Council, said Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff's son and WLFI co-founder Zach Witkoff, on April 27 in social media, will 'bring diversity and financial inclusion to the next generation in Pakistan and beyond.'
Within two weeks, President Trump claimed he had successfully mediated a 'ceasefire' between India and Pakistan. Behind an apparent show of support, say sources, the message to Islamabad was to 'drive for an image makeover to fit the aspirations of a new financial order.'
On cue, in his speech at Las Vegas today, Bilal announced that Pakistan will set up a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, claiming that Pakistan could 'become a case study' and 'help the belt from Morocco to Malaysia, and all emerging economies in the south on how they should adopt digital assets.'
Soon after, the Pakistan Crypto Council posted on social media: 'With a young, crypto-savvy population and a forward-looking government, Pakistan isn't the problem. We are the protocol.' But the rhetoric cannot paper over the clear unease about the very nature of the deal Pakistan struck with WLFI.
Since May 6, the day India began hitting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan, WLFI has been sitting on the request from a member of the US Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), under the Committee on Homeland Security, to share all communications the company had with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The PSI, wrote Senator Richard Blumenthal to Zach Witcoff, 'is conducting a preliminary inquiry into potential conflicts of interest and violations of the law from President Trump's cryptocurrency ventures,' including WLFI, and financial dealings with foreign nationals and governments.
In reply, a WLFI lawyer wrote: 'The Company rejects the false choice between innovation and oversight. What it opposes is the misuse of regulatory authority and uncertainty to suppress lawful innovation. The future of finance must be shaped in Washington, DC — not in Beijing, Moscow, or behind the closed doors of legacy institutions.'
The Trump family owns 60% of World Liberty Financial, Inc, through DT Marks DEFI LLC, a Delaware limited liability company with the same address as Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida. Records show that DT Marks DEFI LLC is entitled to compensation for services provided to WLFI and has 'agreed to use reasonable efforts to request… (its) owners and principals…including Donald Trump, to promote the WLFI… from time to time.' For such services, DT Marks DEFI LL has the right to receive 75 per cent of the net protocol revenues of WLFI.
While the details of the Pakistan-WLFI deal are expected to emerge at the ongoing Bitcoin2025 event in Las Vegas, the Letter of Intent signed last month outlined grand plans to use blockchain technology to boost financial inclusion, monetise untapped natural assets, and facilitate remittances. The Pakistan government has already allocated 2,000 MW of power for Bitcoin mining.
Jay Mazoomdaar is an investigative reporter focused on offshore finance, equitable growth, natural resources management and biodiversity conservation. Over two decades, his work has been recognised by the International Press Institute, the Ramnath Goenka Foundation, the Commonwealth Press Union, the Prem Bhatia Memorial Trust, the Asian College of Journalism etc.
Mazoomdaar's major investigations include the extirpation of tigers in Sariska, global offshore probes such as Panama Papers, Robert Vadra's land deals in Rajasthan, India's dubious forest cover data, Vyapam deaths in Madhya Pradesh, mega projects flouting clearance conditions, Nitin Gadkari's link to e-rickshaws, India shifting stand on ivory ban to fly in African cheetahs, the loss of indigenous cow breeds, the hydel rush in Arunachal Pradesh, land mafias inside Corbett, the JDY financial inclusion scheme, an iron ore heist in Odisha, highways expansion through the Kanha-Pench landscape etc. ... Read More
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