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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.

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Crypto’s $245 million campaign finance operation filled airwaves with ads not about crypto

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Crypto's 5 million campaign finance operation filled airwaves with ads not about crypto

Stand With Crypto’s bus tour through five battleground states kicked off last week in Phoenix and Las Vegas.

Logan Dobson/Stand With Crypto Alliance

LAS VEGAS — In Nevada’s 4th Congressional District, a crypto PAC spent nearly $2 million on ads this cycle to support the reelection of Steven Horsford, a Democratic congressman who’s voted in favor of some major pro-crypto bills.

But watching the ads, you’d learn nothing about that agenda.

“He’s leading on jobs, bringing good paying union jobs to Nevada and rebuilding our infrastructure,” one 30-second commercial says. “He capped insulin prices at $35 a month” and “worked multiple jobs to support his hard-working single mother and siblings.”

The ad wraps up with the disclosure, “Fairshake is responsible for the content of this ad.”

Fairshake was the largest crypto-aligned super PAC in the 2024 election cycle, spending piles of cash to support crypto allies and vote out antagonists across the country. The group brought in $170 million, accounting for a huge chunk of the amount raised by crypto-related PACs and other groups, which totaled more than $245 million, according to Federal Election Commission data.

Crypto has accounted for nearly half of all corporate money flowing into the election, according to a report from nonprofit watchdog Public Citizen. No other sector is close. That includes oil companies and banks, which have historically been big political contributors. Crypto even outpaced Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, who spent tens of millions of dollars to try to get Republican nominee former President Donald Trump back in the White House in his contest against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.

A big part of the crypto industry’s strategy when it came to distributing cash was to identify key races and then flood the zone.

Industry advocacy group Stand With Crypto Alliance, launched by Coinbase last year, developed a grading system for the presidential race and for House and Senate candidates across the country, helping it determine where to spend.

Bitcoin hits three-month high as bipartisan support of crypto industry fuels spot ETF inflows

Horsford received an A grade based on his public comments and his voting history while in office. His campaign received money from Fairshake as well as individual donations from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, venture capitalist and longtime crypto investor Reid Hoffman, and billionaire twins Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss.

Nevada is home to two of the thirteen “critical elections” singled out by Stand with Crypto, a designation the group defines as races that are “critical to the future of crypto in America.” In addition to Horsford’s election, the other Nevada race is the Senate contest between Democratic incumbent Jackie Rosen and Republican challenger Sam Brown. Both candidates received an A grade.

According to data shared by Stand with Crypto, 385,000 Nevadans are crypto owners, and more than 16,000 people in the state have signed up to be advocates for the group, which made a stop in Las Vegas in September as part of a multi-state tour.

The other races deemed critical were for Senate in Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Massachusetts, Michigan, Wisconsin and Maryland, and for specific House contests in Colorado, Iowa and Oregon.

To reach potential voters, Fairshake isn’t talking a lot about crypto. Nor are its affiliate PACs, which have names like Defend American Jobs and Protect Progress. They’ve collectively spent more than $135 million this cycle, mostly on ads.

“Not mentioning crypto assets explicitly is probably a savvy move to avoid alienating voters who prefer traditional currencies and might be put off by connections to crypto,” said David Nickerson, an associate professor of political science at Temple University who worked in the analytics department for President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign in 2012.

The biggest single target of crypto money this cycle was Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, the Democratic chair of the Senate Banking Committee. Brown backed Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in holding hearings on whether digital tokens were tied to terrorism.

In December, Brown told journalists that he wasn’t concerned about the crypto industry’s rumblings against him.

“Bring ’em on,” Politico quoted Brown as saying to a crowd of reporters.

Some $40 million of crypto money has been directed at defeating Brown, and one PAC has paid for five ads designed to boost awareness of Republican rival Bernie Moreno, a blockchain entrepreneur. The race is crucial in determining which party will control the Senate.

Protect Progress, a PAC affiliated with Fairshake, has given more than $10 million apiece to Senate candidates in Arizona and Michigan. In Arizona, the group favors Democrat Ruben Gallego, who is vying for the seat being vacated by Kyrsten Sinema. In Michigan, the preferred choice is Elissa Slotkin, who is currently a Democratic House member.

Democratic Rep. Katie Porter of California lost in the primary for Senate after Fairshake spent over $10 million in ads against her. Defend American Jobs spent more than $3 million to support Republican Jim Justice in West Virginia, who has been declared the winner, replacing exiting Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin.

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Cybertruck dually, overland Kia concepts, and electric Mopars at SEMA

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Cybertruck dually, overland Kia concepts, and electric Mopars at SEMA

On today’s episode of Quick Charge, we find out what a one-ton Tesla Cybertruck looks like, check out some clever, off-road Kia overland EVs, witness the electric rebirth of Plymouth with a plugin street rod, and more!

We’ve also got a bunch of new, $300/mo. EV lease deals and talk up the rapid rise of the Ultium-based Honda Prologue, which is rocketing up the sales charts!

Today’s episode features our new title sponsor, BLUETTI – a leading provider of portable power stations, solar generators, and energy storage systems. For a limited time, save up to 50% during BLUETTI’s exclusive Black Friday pre-sale, now through November 11. Learn more by clicking here here.

Prefer listening to your podcasts? Audio-only versions of Quick Charge are now available on Apple PodcastsSpotifyTuneIn, and our RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded, usually, Monday through Thursday (and sometimes Sunday). We’ll be posting bonus audio content from time to time as well, so be sure to follow and subscribe so you don’t miss a minute of Electrek’s high-voltage daily news!

Got news? Let us know!
Drop us a line at tips@electrek.co. You can also rate us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or recommend us in Overcast to help more people discover the show!

Read more: New Honda battery electric lawn mowers will be made in the USA.

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Tesla plans mini Oasis Supercharger with solar and batteries near its giant project

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Tesla plans mini Oasis Supercharger with solar and batteries near its giant project

Tesla appears to be doubling down on its new “Oasis” Supercharger station concept, which consists of larger stations powered by solar and a microgrid battery system.

Although, this new one is a bit less ambitious.

Last month, Tesla announced its “project Oasis” (pictured above), which should become one of Tesla’s largest Supercharger stations with several pull-through stalls for trucks and trailers, but the real differentiating factor is a large solar array and battery system that enables the charging station to operate off-grid mostly.

CEO Elon Musk has been saying that the goal of the Supercharger network is to be powered by solar and batteries and mostly off-grid since 2016, but Tesla has yet to make this common.

The announcement of the Project Oasis gave us some hope that it might finally happen, and now it looks like Tesla is planning a mini Oasis.

Marco RP, who tracks Supercharger projects, reported on the new construction plans submitted for the Coalinga, California station:

https://twitter.com/MarcoRPi1/status/1852794833154535719

The project is about 50 miles north of Project Oasis – also on Interstate 5 between Los Angeles and the Bay Area.

We call it a “mini Oasis” not because it has fewer charging stations than Oasis; it actually has the same number of planned stalls, 168 stalls, but because it doesn’t have as much solar and batteries to enable off-grid use.

Oasis has 11 MW of planned solar power and 39 MWh of energy storage.

This new project in Coalinga has less than 1 MW of solar and 15.5 MWh of energy storage. In the case of Oasis, the grid complements Tesla’s microgrid, and in this new project, it’s Tesla’s microgrid that complements the grid connection.

But Tesla could eventually expand its solar array and battery storage system at the new station.

This new station also includes restrooms, which Tesla has sometimes deployed at bigger stations.

Supercharging with solar is great, but the best solar to charge your car is the one you own. If you want to make sure you’re finding a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage. EnergySage is a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar – whether you’re a homeowner or renter. They have hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, including some who install Tesla products like Powerwalls. They ensure you get high-quality solutions and save 20 to 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 you 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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