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With shares of his nascent social media business in the midst of a sharp rebound and with just three weeks until the presidential election, Donald Trump is bringing his latest proposed money-making endeavor to market, this time in crypto.

On Tuesday, the former president and current Republican nominee aims to launch WLFI, the token accompanying his new crypto project called World Liberty Financial. Over the weekend, Trump pumped the sale in a post on X, telling his followers that it’s a “chance to help shape the future of finance.”

Prospective investors can be forgiven for having little idea about what they’re being asked to support.

People involved with WLF have described it as a sort of crypto bank, where customers will be encouraged to borrow, lend and invest in crypto. No official white paper or formal business plan has been released to the public, and about all that’s been disclosed is that investing in the project will give users voting rights over the yet-to-be-launched WLF platform.

In a roadmap given to prospective investors that was first viewed by The Block, the WLF proposal says the coin is looking to raise $300 million at a $1.5 billion valuation in its initial sale. CNBC reached out to WLF for comment but didn’t hear back.

World Liberty Financial is separate and apart from Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of social media platform Truth Social. Trump Media, known by ticker symbol DJT, started trading in March, after going public through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). It’s been a rocky road for the stock, which peaked at close to $80 in late March, before falling all the way down to $12.15 last month.

But since bottoming on Sept. 23, DJT shares are up close to 150% at $29.95, giving the company a market cap of $6 billion. That’s on revenue of less than $1 million a quarter and after the company lost more than $16 million in the latest period.

The Nasdaq Market site is seen on the day that shares of Truth Social and Trump Media & Technology Group start trading under the ticker “DJT”, in New York City, U.S., March 26, 2024.

Shannon Stapleton | Reuters

While DJT shares can be purchased by anyone, the digital coin WLFI will be a Regulation D token offering, following a provision that makes it possible to raise capital without first registering a security with the SEC. Certain conditions must be met, such as limiting the size of the sale and restricting it to accredited investors, defined in part as having a net worth of over $1 million.

Trump owns about 57% of DJT’s outstanding shares, but his potential control over World Liberty Financial is more opaque. WLF’s website, which is currently a landing page to register for know-your-customer verification to buy the coin, includes some of the fine print that indicates the financial incentive for the founders.

Co-founder Zachary Folkman, who previously had a company called Date Hotter Girls and reportedly helped develop crypto project Dough Finance, has said that 20% of WLF’s tokens would be allotted to the founding team, which includes the Trump family.

And there appears to be another way they can make money.

“DT Marks DEFI, LLC and its affiliates including Donald J. Trump and his family members has or may receive tokens from World Liberty Financial, and will be entitled to receive significant fees for services provided to World Liberty Financial, which amount cannot yet be determined,” the website says.

On Monday, less than 24 hours before the planned token launch, the WLF team convened a conversation on X Spaces to share details of the sale. About 12,000 people tuned in to listen to the more than hourlong chat about the overarching goals of the project.

Folkman reiterated what he said in a prior Spaces event, telling attendees that WLFI is a governance token that allows holders to vote on decisions regarding the protocol, including initiatives like promotional partnerships. He said token ownership “isn’t equity” and “doesn’t represent economic right.”

Folkman said the token sale will exclusively take place on World Liberty’s website, and that only those who had been whitelisted after signing up will be able to participate. He said “well over 100,000 people” are on the whitelist and that it’s not too late to register. Folkman added that WLF would publish the “long-awaited” roadmap for the project on Tuesday, in tandem with the token sale.

Last week, WLF began the process of getting its crypto bank approved by the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem known as Aave.

Aave is open source and, in DeFi, is one of the longest-running and most-trusted crypto lending platforms.

“The protocol itself is permissionless, so I’m kind of less opinionated about integrations, because that’s the whole idea of decentralized finance,” Aave founder Stani Kulechov told CNBC in an interview at the Permissionless Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Kulechov joined Monday’s X event and said he’s “excited that WLF is using and relying on” Aave.

‘”That’s a strong signal that what we build is fairly useful, so we’re super excited,” he said.

In a 400-word post to Aave’s governance forum, the WLF team presented a brief outline of its objectives, which include promoting “DeFi to a wider audience through its marketing efforts,” and introducing “a new class of users to over-collateralized borrowing and lending.” The proposal is currently at the preliminary stage of consideration known as “Temp Check,” and Aave’s users are able to comment on the plan.

In the comments section, a number of users raised concern over the project’s deep ties to the Trump family.

How Trump was ‘orange-pilled’ by three bitcoiners in Puerto Rico

“I believe this proposal poses significant risk to the Aave protocol for little gain,” according to one comment that’s since been deleted. The commenter then questioned the rationale of having “the largest and most trusted protocol in DeFi” working with a group led “by people of questionable backgrounds … including several convicted criminals.”

Folkman helped start WLF with long-time business partner Chase Herro. CoinDesk reported that the pair previously worked on Dough Finance, which was also built on top of Aave and suffered a $2 million hack in July. Herro also launched another crypto trading business a decade ago called Pacer Capital, which appears to now be defunct.

For World Liberty to proceed, it must pass multiple rounds of consideration and approval, each decided by a vote among existing AAVE token holders.

At this stage in the process, the token sale is akin to an IOU. Those who buy in now have a claim to the token if and when the platform is approved and launched.

WATCH: Crypto warms to Kamala Harris

Crypto donors warm up to Kamala Harris

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At $28,000 off, is the Jeep Wagoneer S the best EV deal going? [update]

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At $28,000 off, is the Jeep Wagoneer S the best EV deal going? [update]

Like a 90s “gifted” kid that was supposed to be a lot of things, the electric Jeep Wagoneer S never really found its place — but when dealers started discounting the Jeep brands forward-looking flagship by nearly $25,000 back in June, I wrote that it might be time to give the go-fast Wagoneer S a second look.

This month, the discounts are even better.

UPDATE 23AUG25: I found you some even better EV deals!


Whether we’re talking about Mercedes-Benz, Cerberus, Fiat, or even Enzo Ferrari, outsiders have labeled Jeep as a potentially premium brand that could, “if managed properly,” command luxury-level prices all over the globe. That hasn’t happened, and Stellantis is just the latest in a long line of companies to sink massive capital into the brand only to realize that people will not, in fact, spend Mercedes money on a Jeep.

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That said, the Jeep Wagoneer S is not a bad car (and neither is its totally different, hideously massive, ICE-powered Wagoneer sibling, frankly). Built on the same Stellantis STLA Large vehicle platform that underpins the sporty Charger Daytona EVs, the confusingly-named Wagoneer S packs dual electric motors putting out almost 600 hp. That’s good enough to scoot the ‘ute 0 to 60 mph in a stomach-turning 3.5 seconds and enough, on paper, to convince Stellantis executives that they had developed a real, market-ready alternative to the Tesla Model Y.

With the wrong name and a sky-high starting price of $66,995 (not including the $1,795 destination fee), however, that demand didn’t materialize, leaving the Wagoneer S languishing on dealer lots across the country.

That could be about to change, however, thanks to big discounts on Wagoneer S being reported at CDJR dealers in several states:

  • Jeff Belzer’s in Minnesota has a 2025 Wagoneer S Limited with a $67,790 MSRP for $39,758 ($28,032 off)
  • Troncalli CDJR in Georgia has a 2025 Wagoneer S Limited with a $67,590 MSRP for $42,697 ($24,893 off)
  • Whitewater CDJR in Minnesota has a 2025 Wagoneer S Limited with a $67,790 MSRP for $43,846 ($23,944 off)
  • Antioch CDJR in Illinois has a 2025 Wagoneer S Limited with a $67,790 MSRP for $44,540 ($23,250 off)

“Stellantis bet big on electric versions of iconic American brands like Jeep and Dodge, but consumers aren’t buying the premise,” writes CDG’s Marcus Amick. “(Stellantis’ dealer body) is now stuck with expensive EVs that need huge discounts to move, eating into already thin margins while competitors focus on [more] profitable gas-powered vehicles.”

All of which is to say: if you’ve found yourself drawn to the Jeep Wagoneer S, but couldn’t quite stomach the $70,000+ window stickers, you might want to check in with your local Jeep dealer and see how you feel about it at a JCPenneys-like 30% off!


Original content from Electrek; images via Stellantis.


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New 50-ton SANY reach stacker brings Formula 1 tech to the job site

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New 50-ton SANY reach stacker brings Formula 1 tech to the job site

Multinational equipment brand SANY just launched a clever new 50-ton reach stacker that pairs gravity and an F1-style KERS system to generate electricity, improve operating efficiency, and reduce costs. The best part: they’re putting that smart tech to work by helping clean up (and shore up) the grid.

Short for Kinetic Energy Recovery System, KERS was a staple of Formula 1 in the late aught and 2010s. Essentially an advanced form of regenerative braking, KERS captured the kinetic energy of a car at speed that would normally be lost as heat when the brake pads pressed against the brake discs. Instead of heat, KERS converted that energy into electricity (storing it in a battery or flywheel), to be deployed later.

Sebastian Vettel explains KERS


4x WDC Sebastian Vettel explains KERS.

In practice, KERS gave drivers an extra boost of horsepower at the push of a button, enabling them to attack or defend their position on track and adding a fresh strategic element to the sport. In SANY’s case, that stored power is fed back into the reach stacker’s electric hydraulic system, reducing pressure loss across the high-pressure setup by 50%, and lowering the machine’s overall energy consumption by more than 60%.

Energy recovery is a key feature. The potential energy of the boom, lifting gear and energy storage cabinets during the boom’s descent can be recovered efficiently with an overall recovery efficiency of over 65%. That means every 1 kWh of consumption in lifting can be recovered by 0.4 kWh during descent.

SANY

The 50t reach stacker is available with a 512 kWh swappable battery pack that’s compatible with other SANY heavy equipment assets, and supports both DC fast charging when swapping isn’t practical or (for whatever reason) desirable.

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On a single charge and backed by the onboard KERS, that’s good enough for the machine can lift and move containers for more than 7 continuous hours, which SANY claims significantly reducing downtime for charging compared to other, similar equipment assets.

The new SANY reach stacker can stack six 50-ton containers, greatly enhancing a site’s container and battery storage density within a limited space. The first units will reach unnamed customers building out a utility-scale energy storage project by the end of this month.

Electrek’s Take


50 tonne electric reach stacker; via SANY.

All the great stuff I was saying about the new 65-tonne XCMG still holds true for the SANY (especially when they take the wraps off their own 65t BESS-specific unit later this year), but the SANY adds smart battery swap tech and what seems to be more efficient operations, too.

Regardless of which one you choose, it seems like the available options for reach stacker operators are just getting better and better!

SOURCE | IMAGES: SANY.


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Want EV charging at your apartment, as an owner or a renter? Click here

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Want EV charging at your apartment, as an owner or a renter? Click here

EVs are great, and can unlock more transportation convenience with the ease of charging at home. But for apartment-dwellers, this can be a complicated conversation. So a nonprofit called Forth is here to help, through its Charge at Home program.

One of the main benefits of an electric vehicle is in the convenience of owning and charging the car in the place it spends most of its time. Instead of having to go out of your way to fuel it, you just park it at home, in the same place it spends at least 8 hours a day, and you leave the house every day with a full charge.

But this benefit only applies to those with a consistent parking space which they can easily install charging at. When talking about owners who live in apartment buildings, it can sometimes get more complicated.

While certain states have passed “right to charge” laws to give apartment-dwellers a solution for home charging, apartment charging is nevertheless a bit of a patchwork solution so far.

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And as a result of this, EV ownership among apartment renters lags behind that of single-family homeowners. It’s clear that apartments are holding back people from buying EVs, and that’s bad – lots of people live in apartments, and the gas those cars use pollutes the air just as much as any other.

Certain areas where EVs have hit a point of critical mass (namely, the large California cities) have pretty good EV ownership among renters, but it could still be better. And residents are clamoring more and more for easy EV charging in apartment communities.

So, Forth, a nonprofit advocating for equitable access to clean transportation, set up a program called Charge at Home, which is meant to connect renters, apartment building owners or other decisionmakers with resources to help install chargers at multifamily properties.

The site lets you select your situation – a resident or a decisionmaker for a new or existing multifamily development – and then gives you access to tools for your specific situation, whether you be a resident and developer.

The site houses links to help design a multifamily project, find electricians, inform you about right to charge laws or available incentives, and provide case studies, among others.

Charge at Home also hosts roundtable webinars periodically, and includes a library of past webinars with the information you need.

There are a lot of considerations for each of these projects, so it can be helpful to have someone with experience to help you go over it all. Personally, when talking to friends about getting an EV, charging considerations are usually the thing that takes up the bulk of the conversation.

So if the toolkits are still too daunting for you, Charge at Home is offering free charging consultations for multifamily developers, owners, property managers and HOAs.

The charging consultations have been made possible by funding from the Department of Energy, though that funding only runs through the end of September – so get your requests in soon. Forth may still offer consultations afterwards, but is still uncertain about funding so doesn’t want to promise anything – but the website will remain up for people to submit questions and find information, whether or not free consultations stick around.

But at the very least, as Forth points out, whether a multifamily development is interested in having EV charging at this moment or not, any developer should think about having the infrastructure, conduit and capacity ready to go for future install of EV chargers, and should consider the needs of current residents who are likely already considering EVs today.

It’s going to be necessary to install this capacity at some point, and doing so earlier can help save money down the line, make your development more attractive to renters today, and allow more renters to make the switch to cleaner transportation which helps air quality and to reduce climate change, both of which harm everyone on the planet.

Electrek’s Take

I’ve long said that the only real problem with EVs is the problem of access to consistent charging for people who don’t have their own garage. Whether this be apartment-dwellers, street-parkers or the like, the electric car charging experience is often less-than-ideal outside of single family homes, at least in North America.

There are workarounds available, like charging at work, or using Superchargers in “third places” where you often spend time, but these still aren’t optimal. The best thing is just to charge your car wherever it spends most of its time, which is your home. When you do that, EVs outshine everything in convenience.

We’ve highlighted some projects before which showed how reasonable it can be to install charging for developments. Every project is going to have its complexities, but when you see projects like this condo complex that managed to install chargers for just $405 per parking spot, all of a sudden it becomes a no-brainer not to have EV charging.

But the fact is, there just aren’t enough apartment complexes out there which have EV charging. So if Forth’s program can help residents or landlords with that, it can go a long way towards solving the only real problem with EVs.


The 30% federal solar tax credit is ending this year. If you’ve ever considered going solar, now’s the time to act. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.

Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.

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