08/12 update below. This post was originally published on August 11
Bitcoin
Bitcoin
The bitcoin price has climbed to over $61,000 per bitcoin, adding $200 billion to the wider crypto market after former U.S. president Donald Trump proposed a radical plan to pay off $35 trillion of U.S. national debt.
Now, after teasing “game-changing” crypto plans all week, Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. has revealed the Trump family is working on a decentralized finance (DeFi) cryptocurrency platform to “take on” the banks.
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Former president Donald Trump’s sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. have released some details of … [+]
Rumors of a Trump cryptocurrency began swirling this week after a series of X posts by Don Jr. and Trump’s son Eric, who teased a “big” crypto announcement.
A new solana-based cryptocurrency called restore the republic, or RTR, exploded in value before crashing back after viral rumors that it could be Trump’s official cryptocurrency were nixed by Trump’s son Eric, who called the rumors “absolutely false” and said the “only official Trump project has not been announced.”
“I love how much the crypto community is embracing Trump,” Don Jr. posted to X. “It’s absolutely incredible, but beware of fake tokens claiming to be part of the Trump project. The only official project will be announced directly by us, and it will be fair for everyone. Don’t be fooled—stay tuned for the real deal.”
08/12 update: The bitcoin and crypto market is now braced for former U.S. president Donald Trump to be interviewed by Tesla billionaire and X owner Elon Musk, broadcast live at 8pm ET on the social media platform that Musk is trying to turn into an “everything app.”
Musk remains one of the bitcoin and crypto market’s biggest influencers, with his 2021 interest in bitcoin catapulting the market into its massive bull run. Musk’s electric car company Tesla remains one of the largest corporate holders of bitcoin even after selling down its stack in 2022.
Meanwhile, Trump’s embrace of bitcoin and crypto in recent months has given legitimacy to the technology, fueling bets that the bitcoin price will soar if Trump wins the November election, with traders watching closely for an updates to Trump’s radical plan to pay of the $35 trillion U.S. debt pile with bitcoin.
During a live-streamed Q&A on subscription-based platform Locals, Don Jr. said the mysterious and as yet unnamed Trump project won’t be a memecoin and will be a “long-term play.”
“There’s a lot of guys doing great stuff. I love memecoins and that culture. I love what those guys are doing with some friends of mine. It’s great,” Don Jr. said. “But I just have to make sure that people understand that you can’t conflate one thing with another.”
Don Jr. went on to give some more details of the plan that appears to be some sort of crypto-based payment and banking platform. “I think what we want to do is sort of, take on a lot of the banking world,” he said. “This notion of decentralized finance is obviously very appealing to guys like me who’ve been de-banked or haven’t been able to get insurance or what not.”
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The bitcoin price has surged over the last year, with a crash this week barely denting its huge … [+]
Decentralized cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin have been touted as an alternative to the centralized financial system which has been criticized for become politicized in recent years, most notably by Canada’s government that froze the bank accounts of anti-vaccine mandate protesters in 2022.
Last year, the Biden administration was accused of trying to “quietly” ban bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptocurrencies in a move that was described as “Operation Choke Point 2.0″—referring to a 2013 government initiative that sought to cut off undesirable industries from banking services.
