Latest news with #MichelleConlin
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump-backed crypto firm is planning stablecoin audit, new app
By Michelle Conlin (Reuters) -Zak Folkman, the co-founder of U.S. President Donald Trump's cryptocurrency platform World Liberty Financial, said on Wednesday that the company will issue an audit of its stablecoin "within days" and that it planned a new app. Folkman also hinted that WLF's governance token, known as WLFI, could soon become tradable in an interview at the Permissionless conference on Wednesday, organized by crypto media company Blockworks in Brooklyn, New York. WLFI, which was launched two months before the U.S. presidential election in November by Trump and his business partners, has yielded hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for the Republican president's family business. The business, along with other forays into crypto, has drawn a barrage of criticism from Democratic lawmakers, as well as government ethics watchdogs. Critics say it creates conflicts of interest as it is happening at the same time as the president is pulling back enforcement and easing regulations on the industry. The Trump Organization said in January that the president's investments, assets and business interests would be held in a trust managed by his children. The White House and the Trump Organization did not immediately respond to requests for comment. World Liberty has raised the money by selling so-called governance tokens, which give holders the right to vote on changes to the project's underlying code and to signal their opinion on its direction and plans. They cannot be traded. During the interview on Wednesday, when Blockworks co-founder Jason Yanowitz asked whether the token would become tradable, Folkman said, "I don't want to give away too much, but if you pay attention over the next couple of weeks, I think everyone ... is going to be very, very happy." Folkman said WLF would also be launching an app that would make crypto seamless for everyday investors to use. He said the company's stablecoin recently just got its first attestation report from an accounting firm and that it would be posted on its website "within the next few days." "We're going to have very transparent auditing from a financial level," he said. (Michelle Conlin in New YorkEditing by Marguerita Choy)
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump-backed crypto firm is planning stablecoin audit, new app
By Michelle Conlin (Reuters) -Zak Folkman, the co-founder of U.S. President Donald Trump's cryptocurrency platform World Liberty Financial, said on Wednesday that the company will issue an audit of its stablecoin "within days" and that it planned a new app. Folkman also hinted that WLF's governance token, known as WLFI, could soon become tradable in an interview at the Permissionless conference on Wednesday, organized by crypto media company Blockworks in Brooklyn, New York. WLFI, which was launched two months before the U.S. presidential election in November by Trump and his business partners, has yielded hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for the Republican president's family business. The business, along with other forays into crypto, has drawn a barrage of criticism from Democratic lawmakers, as well as government ethics watchdogs. Critics say it creates conflicts of interest as it is happening at the same time as the president is pulling back enforcement and easing regulations on the industry. The Trump Organization said in January that the president's investments, assets and business interests would be held in a trust managed by his children. The White House and the Trump Organization did not immediately respond to requests for comment. World Liberty has raised the money by selling so-called governance tokens, which give holders the right to vote on changes to the project's underlying code and to signal their opinion on its direction and plans. They cannot be traded. During the interview on Wednesday, when Blockworks co-founder Jason Yanowitz asked whether the token would become tradable, Folkman said, "I don't want to give away too much, but if you pay attention over the next couple of weeks, I think everyone ... is going to be very, very happy." Folkman said WLF would also be launching an app that would make crypto seamless for everyday investors to use. He said the company's stablecoin recently just got its first attestation report from an accounting firm and that it would be posted on its website "within the next few days." "We're going to have very transparent auditing from a financial level," he said. (Michelle Conlin in New YorkEditing by Marguerita Choy)
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Dinner with the president: Trump meme coin surges on offer to top buyers
By Michelle Conlin NEW YORK (Reuters) -President Donald Trump's meme coin surged more than 60% on Wednesday after a post announcing "the most EXCLUSIVE INVITATION in the world" promised the top 220 buyers of $TRUMP a private gala dinner with the president on May 22. In addition to the dinner at Trump National Golf Club in Washington, D.C., the top 25 holders would get "an ultra-exclusive private VIP reception with the President" as well as a "Special Tour," according to the announcement. The post on a website promoting the $TRUMP coin is the latest in a flurry of cryptocurrency-related forays undertaken by Trump and his family that have garnered them hundreds of millions of dollars in fees alone. Trump family ventures include a new crypto exchange, World Liberty Financial, as well as a pivot to crypto finance by Trump Media & Technology Group, the social media company in which the president holds a $3 billion stake. Trump has promised to be America's first "crypto president," and his administration has moved swiftly to scale back crypto enforcement and ease the industry's regulatory framework. The family's push into crypto at the same time the president is overseeing a new oversight regime has fueled concerns about potential conflicts of interest and influence peddling. Trump's planned dinner with $TRUMP coin holders is "a race to the bottom for presidential grifting," said Tony Carrk, executive director of a nonpartisan government ethics watchdog group. "There has never been a clearer case of a president using their office to put money in their pocket, or greater potential for special interests to buy an administration's favor that could threaten the public interest," Carrk said. Anna Kelly, the White House deputy press secretary, said: "President Trump's assets are in a trust managed by his children. There are no conflicts of interest." The $TRUMP coin, launched before the president's January 20 inauguration, reached as high as $74.59 before falling to a low of $7.14 on April 7. Crypto analytics firm Chainalysis found that as of March 12 the coin had generated at least $350 million in fees for entities connected to the president. As recently as last week, crypto watchers were expecting the $TRUMP coin to collapse as 40 million new tokens were set to unlock. The coin's account on X said on Wednesday, though, that the unlock would be delayed for 90 more days. The terms of the $TRUMP dinner offer state that "President Trump may not be able to attend" but that winners would receive a limited edition TRUMP NFT "in lieu thereof." (Reporting By Michelle Conlin; Editing by Tom Hogue)
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Dinner with the president: Trump meme coin surges on offer to top buyers
By Michelle Conlin NEW YORK (Reuters) -President Donald Trump's meme coin surged more than 60% on Wednesday after a post announcing "the most EXCLUSIVE INVITATION in the world" promised the top 220 buyers of $TRUMP a private gala dinner with the president on May 22. In addition to the dinner at Trump National Golf Club in Washington, D.C., the top 25 holders would get "an ultra-exclusive private VIP reception with the President" as well as a "Special Tour," according to the announcement. The post on a website promoting the $TRUMP coin is the latest in a flurry of cryptocurrency-related forays undertaken by Trump and his family that have garnered them hundreds of millions of dollars in fees alone. Trump family ventures include a new crypto exchange, World Liberty Financial, as well as a pivot to crypto finance by Trump Media & Technology Group, the social media company in which the president holds a $3 billion stake. Trump has promised to be America's first "crypto president," and his administration has moved swiftly to scale back crypto enforcement and ease the industry's regulatory framework. The family's push into crypto at the same time the president is overseeing a new oversight regime has fueled concerns about potential conflicts of interest and influence peddling. Trump's planned dinner with $TRUMP coin holders is "a race to the bottom for presidential grifting," said Tony Carrk, executive director of a nonpartisan government ethics watchdog group. "There has never been a clearer case of a president using their office to put money in their pocket, or greater potential for special interests to buy an administration's favor that could threaten the public interest," Carrk said. Anna Kelly, the White House deputy press secretary, said: "President Trump's assets are in a trust managed by his children. There are no conflicts of interest." The $TRUMP coin, launched before the president's January 20 inauguration, reached as high as $74.59 before falling to a low of $7.14 on April 7. Crypto analytics firm Chainalysis found that as of March 12 the coin had generated at least $350 million in fees for entities connected to the president. As recently as last week, crypto watchers were expecting the $TRUMP coin to collapse as 40 million new tokens were set to unlock. The coin's account on X said on Wednesday, though, that the unlock would be delayed for 90 more days. The terms of the $TRUMP dinner offer state that "President Trump may not be able to attend" but that winners would receive a limited edition TRUMP NFT "in lieu thereof." (Reporting By Michelle Conlin; Editing by Tom Hogue) Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump's crypto company launches strategic 'token reserve'
By Michelle Conlin NEW YORK (Reuters) - World Liberty Financial, the new crypto platform in which President Donald Trump holds a financial stake, announced that it was unveiling a strategic token reserve designed to bolster Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies "that are at the forefront of reshaping global finance." WLF said in a statement posted on X on Tuesday that its new token reserve would enable it to mitigate market volatility, empower the company to invest in innovative projects in decentralized finance, and develop a well-capitalized reserve. It also said it would seek strategic partnerships with financial institutions to contribute tokenized assets to the WLF reserve. WLF did not respond to a request for comment. The White House and the Trump Organization also did not respond to requests for comment. The announcement comes at a time when Trump and his family businesses are increasingly turning to making money from the world of crypto. In addition to WLF, the Trump family's holdings include a majority stake in Trump Media & Technology Group, a social-media-and-streaming company that on January 29 announced it was pivoting into financial services tied to crypto. Three days before his inauguration, the president also launched his $Trump meme coin. Millions of dollars, including $100 million in fees alone off of the meme coin, have poured into entities connected to the president's new suite of crypto companies. WLF has already seen token sales of $500 million, by Reuters calculations. In January, Trump said his assets, which are in a revokable trust, would be managed by his children while he is in office. World Liberty Financial launched two months ahead of the U.S. presidential election. Trump and his affiliates own a 60% stake in its holding company and are entitled to 75% of revenues and 22.5 billion tokens, according to the company's website. The news comes just three days after Donald Trump Jr., the president's eldest son, made a surprise appearance at the Ondo Summit in New York City, billed as Wall Street 2.0. There, Trump and company founders told attendees, most of whom were from traditional finance, that WLF's aim was to bridge the gap between the world of crypto and mainstream retail investors such as teachers, firemen and dentists. Donald Trump Jr. emphasized the need for a regulatory framework that would allow 'crypto to flourish.' Crypto, he said, is the 'future of finance' and the 'future of American hegemony.' (Reporting By Michelle Conlin and Lawrence Delevingne; Editing by Leslie Adler) Sign in to access your portfolio
