Banana auction billionaire invests in Trump’s cryptocurrency venture | Wilnesh News

Tron blockchain founder Justin Sun announced on Monday that he has invested $30 million in Donald Trump’s crypto project World Liberty Financial.

“We are pleased to invest $30 million in World Liberty Financial @worldlibertyfi As its largest investor, Sun wrote in X’s post.

Sun recently made national headlines when he paid $6.2 million at a Sotheby’s auction for a banana taped to a wall.

Trump-branded cryptocurrency platform World Liberty Financial aspires to become a digital asset bank that encourages customers to borrow and invest in digital currencies.

Trump has licensed his name and promotional consideration to the venture through a limited liability company without incurring any liability. In exchange, Trump’s LLC received billions of dollars in tokens and the right to receive 75% of revenue above $30 million.

The platform launched the WLFI token last month and said in a statement roadmap The company hopes to raise $300 million in the first sale at a valuation of $1.5 billion.

Prior to Sun’s investment, the token had sold for $21.2 million. As of Monday afternoon, $51.2 million worth of the token had been sold, according to its website. Sales now appear to have crossed the $30 million threshold, triggering income distributions to Trump LLC.

“The United States is becoming a blockchain hub, and Bitcoin attributed to @realDonaldTrump ! TRON is committed to making America great again and leading innovation. let’s go!

WLFI co-founder Zachary Folkman said that “more than 100,000 people” are on the whitelist to invest in the token. But according to statistics, as of Monday afternoon, only about 20,400 unique wallet addresses held the token. Blockchain data Tracked by Etherscan, it accounts for approximately 20% of total registrations.

“With many similar major acquisitions taking place in recent weeks, we are confident in our future success and committed to building something that will help make finance freer and fairer,” Folkman said in a statement. “We expect There will be more such developments in the coming weeks and months.”

Although Trump doesn’t take office until January, Sun’s investment in WLFI, and the revenue that appears to flow directly to Trump LLC according to the terms of the disclosure, underscores Trump’s new business ventures, such as his social media company way Trump Media Technology Group This cryptocurrency venture could provide more immediate opportunities for individuals to become president-elect than Trump’s hotels and office buildings.

Throughout Trump’s first term, there have been near-constant questions about whether foreign governments’ lavish spending on hotel rooms and banquets at Trump’s Washington, D.C., hotels violated the Constitution’s “emoluments clause.”

This provision prohibits federal officials from accepting payments or items of value from foreign governments and their representatives.

But prices for Trump’s hotel rooms and office space are relatively fixed, and costs also affect overall profits.

By contrast, investors in Trump’s new ventures — as evidenced by Sun’s token purchases — can immediately inject tens of millions of dollars at almost no cost to Trump.

Spokespersons for the Trump presidential transition, World Freedom Financial and Sun-owned Tron did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Sun’s acquisition comes as Trump is actively preparing his list of appointments. The president-elect made cabinet appointments over the weekend and has since appointed leaders of other agencies and departments.

According to reports, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong Met with Trump on November 18 to discuss appointment. The first cryptocurrency czar.

By the end of the week, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, the long-time opponent of cryptocurrencies, announced that he would retire on Inauguration Day, with his term not expiring until June 2026.

Trump has yet to choose a nominee to succeed Gensler to lead the SEC. Under new leadership, securities regulators could choose to drop some enforcement actions against major cryptocurrency businesses. It’s unclear how Tron’s case will be affected.

In March 2023, the commission unveiled fraud and unregistered securities charges against Sun, as well as separate violations against celebrity backers of its Tronix and BitTorrent crypto assets, including Jake Paul, Lindsay Lohan and Soulja Boy.

The SEC charged Sun with committing fraud by manipulating the trading activity of the two tokens, creating the appearance of active trading when in fact no active trading existed. On the other hand, unregistered offering and sales fees are similar to those announced by the SEC for other crypto products and exchanges, including Genesis, Gemini, Coin libraryBinance and Kraken.

The cryptocurrency industry has performed strongly during this election cycle. Several prominent industry leaders, including Gemini co-founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, as well as executives from cryptocurrency companies fighting the SEC, have donated to PACs supporting Trump’s campaign.