Organized by: jk, Odaily Planet Daily
Editor’s note: On February 26, Denver time, Donald Trump Jr., co-founder of World Liberty Finance (WLFI), attended the ‘DeFi World 2025’ conference as part of the ETH Denver side events. He joined heavyweight guests from the crypto industry to discuss cryptocurrency regulation, the future of DeFi, and the role of the United States. The key points are as follows:
The necessity of regulatory framework: The cryptocurrency and DeFi sectors need a clear regulatory framework to define what can be done and what cannot be done. He believes that the lack of clear regulation will force companies to go offshore, miss opportunities, and calls on the United States to establish reasonable regulations to ensure investor safety and industry development.
The United States should lead the financial future: The United States should take a leading role in the financial future, instead of pushing enterprises overseas through excessive regulation. He advocates that the United States should lead the global development of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology through wise regulations.
Financial democratization: Through projects like World Liberty Finance, combining traditional finance with decentralized finance to provide more people with liquidity, stability, and transparency, thus achieving financial democratization. He criticizes the opacity and exclusivity of the existing financial system, believing that cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology can offer equal financial opportunities to more people.
Technology and Innovation: Confident in the potential of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, they will completely change the financial industry. He particularly emphasizes the importance of transparency and on-chain operations, believing that this can eliminate opacity and corruption in traditional finance.
Advice for beginners: It is recommended that beginners start with small investments and gradually understand the field of cryptocurrency to avoid excessive leverage. He emphasizes the importance of education and participation, believing that only by truly participating can one better understand this rapidly developing field.
Expectations for the future: Looking forward to the future of World Liberty Finance and its partners, believing that by integrating various technologies and projects, revolutionary changes can be brought to the global financial system, providing financial freedom and opportunities to more people.
jk, a correspondent for Odaily Planet Daily in North America, participated in the event and edited the original text of the conversation as follows~
Q: The United States is an important leader in the cryptocurrency field. What kind of policies do you think are needed?
Trump Jr.: I think the most important thing right now is that everyone needs a regulatory framework to clarify what can and cannot be done. When we entered this world, our family also participated in projects like WLFI. It’s surprising that even when you have access to the world’s best lawyers and experts, no one really knows what you can and cannot do. Few are willing to face the excessive abuse of the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in the field of cryptocurrencies. Therefore, I believe this is the future of finance. We want to democratize it, but people do need this regulatory framework to move forward and understand what can be done. If we don’t do this, the cost of companies being forced offshore is huge. I think this is very absurd. We need to create a regulatory framework that makes people feel secure and ensures that they can invest with confidence. I will no longer hold office after noon on January 20, but during the transition period, we spent a lot of time introducing those who not only understand traditional finance (TradFi) but also truly understand cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance (DeFi) in order to develop a reasonable regulatory framework and laws.
I think the problem that I’ve seen in Washington, D.C. over the last few decades is that the people who make the decisions are often ignorant of the subject matter that they’re legislating for. They just stay there longer, so they have seniority and may sit in some committee. I entered the real estate industry after graduating from Wharton in 2000 and witnessed firsthand the financial crisis of 2007-2008. I’ve seen those members of the Financial Commission ask seemingly pointed questions, but in reality they don’t know anything about what is being discussed. If you really understand these topics, you’ll realize, oh my gosh, these people are making trillion-dollar decisions without any basis for understanding. So we need a regulatory framework that is guided by people who really know the business, whether it’s the new chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the likes of Scott from the Treasury Department.
I’ve helped come up with ideas in the crypto space, like involving people like David SAS. He truly understands the world. Initially we only talked about artificial intelligence, but over dinner I realized that he was one of the greatest minds in tech, so why not let him play a role in crypto as well? So we’ve put together a team that really understands what we’re doing so that you don’t just get a bunch of regulations and hurdles. This is a very critical opportunity for us to create something that the industry really needs. I think we have people who know the industry well enough to do that, not just because people make decisions without actual knowledge, resulting in a solution that is worse than the problem itself.
Truth be told, I think there have been so many hurdles that the SEC and DOJ have put up in the last few years of the Biden administration that are almost disruptive, even predatory, trying to stifle this incredible innovation in cryptocurrency. The same goes for DeFi and other related technologies. Now, I think we have people who can develop the framework, who understand the field, and who can open the floodgates for people who really want to grow in the U.S. to come in. They just want a reasonable environment in the U.S. and not worry about 25 years in prison for some nonsense. So I’m very excited about the actions that the new government will take. I’m proud to be part of the team that is helping to move this forward.
My father will ultimately make these decisions himself, but he understands how crucial this is for the future of finance. I think this is the future of finance. The United States should be at the forefront, rather than putting up various obstacles that push these companies overseas. I am very excited about those in the government, that we can do this correctly, make it meaningful, and dominate this industry in the foreseeable future or even forever.
You have launched your own cryptocurrency platform WLFI. Can you tell us what the vision and mission of this platform are? How will it revolutionize the DeFi and TradFi fields?
Trump Jr.: I believe the real vision is to integrate DeFi with traditional finance and merge them into one. Everyone wants access to liquidity, but not everyone has the opportunity. I have learned this through my political experiences over the past few years. A few months ago, I made some comments online, saying that the current financial system feels like a huge Ponzi scheme. The reason I said this is because when I graduated from the Wharton School and entered the financial world in New York, I worked in real estate and finance. As a member of the Trump family, I may not have realized it, but I was at the top of this financial pyramid. It was basically a Ponzi scheme, but I didn’t know it at the time because I could reach anyone by phone and get what I wanted. Because of who we are, because of our balance sheet, everything was easy. But when we entered the political arena, all of that access suddenly disappeared.
I realized how undemocratic the financial system is. As long as you do what they say, everything is fine. But if you don’t, then many Americans, and even people around the world, will be discriminated against. So I think the idea is to bridge that gap and provide liquidity to people who have never had the opportunity. I think there are a lot of amazing things we can do. There are currently no bond products or treasury bond assets in the cryptocurrency space, bringing these two worlds together, as I mentioned earlier, we need a proper team to do this, which will bring liquidity and more importantly stability.
The real goal is to democratize finance. I think cryptocurrencies do a great job with this, but there are still a lot of pitfalls. The field is still very new, and I’m sure there are people in the room who have been in the field for 15 years, so it’s not new to them. But I really feel like we’re on the verge of a major breakthrough. So bringing these two worlds together is what we’re trying to do and provide people with a great product that they can use. I feel like a lot of people are artificially excluded from the traditional finance world, they don’t have access to these resources because they don’t meet certain criteria, or are considered not “sexy” or “cool” enough. So I’m very excited about being able to really democratize finance. As someone who was once at the top of this man-made Ponzi scheme, I quickly realized what it was like to be at the bottom of this hoax. I realized that that’s not what America is about, and that’s not what financial freedom is about. So we’re really excited to be in this space, to grow with all of you, and to help bring all of these great products together.
With regard to “Free Finance in the World”, it has recently entered into collaborations with a number of partners, from Chile to Tron to Ondo Finance. I would like to ask you, what kind of partnership is Free Finance of the World looking for?
Trump Jr.: Similar to the first question, we hope to integrate traditional finance and the world of cryptocurrencies. We want to be an integrator, bringing together all great things and not intending to do it alone. We are looking for partners to collaborate with various excellent projects. You mentioned some, but there are many more. We need these projects and their wisdom. We must bring together all these great technologies, great minds, and great ideas to bridge this gap once again. I believe that if we can do this, if we can integrate, we can create stability, which is necessary for the takeoff of this field. We can simplify some complexity, making it more accessible to ordinary Americans and people around the world. Therefore, we are looking for cooperation with these top projects, so that everyone can work towards the same direction and truly change the entire industry.
I think you’re going to see more great announcements in the coming days, weeks, and months. As I said, it’s been awesome to see all the people who understand this reaching out and thinking that we can be the catalyst to bring these great ideas together. I think that’s very basic and the most important part.
Blockchain and centralized finance have brought many solutions to traditional financial markets. What problems and challenges in traditional finance do you think it solves?
Trump Jr.: I think we need to create practicality. Many of these ideas are great, but if you have been in this field for a long time, you can have access to the best people and minds. But for ordinary people, we must strive to create practicality. I think there are many solutions, and everyone wants to have this kind of liquidity. People need to be able to enter and exit all these fields. Therefore, I think the biggest solution we can try to create is to create this practicality, bringing together all the great partners, and I think this will do it. It takes time.
Now, it all feels like an “inside game”, but at the end of the day, it’s about creating utility. You can create the democratization of finance and bring other people into the field. As I mentioned earlier, this field used to be the exclusive domain of the rich and powerful. If we can create that utility, get everybody to actually use it, make basic trading simple, bring liquidity into the market, that’s going to be a real game-changer. You see other places competing for that as well.
I interviewed the leader of the Venezuelan opposition earlier, and she won more than 90% of the vote. She is a staunch supporter of cryptocurrency because even with 90% of the vote, they were able to shut her up, shut down her business, and cut off her communication channels. I think once you’ve created utility, you’ve created an electronic signature, you’ve put it on-chain, you have transparency. There are many things we can do to level the playing field for those who don’t have the opportunity. I think that’s very exciting. I think this is a game-changer not only for the industry, but also for the world and freedom itself.
Some people outside may not be satisfied with this answer, but listen, we have seen what they can do in the United States. If you don’t buy into their story, they will come after you. They did this when my father was president for the first time, even though he was the most powerful person in the world, at least on paper, they could still cut you off. They can only push one narrative, using this prejudice. Even in America, you would think this is impossible, but you see what they have done, you see their attacks on many people, you see their imprisonment of early cryptocurrency figures, such as Ross Ulbricht, who paved the way for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. They don’t like this, it doesn’t matter.
We are moving towards a world independent of power, which is very frightening for many authoritarian regimes. I think some of these regimes may be closer to us than we imagine.
The revolution in the DeFi space began in 2020, and since then, it has evolved from staking, restaking, various innovative DEXs, to modular DEXs, and more. But this field is still very new and there is a lot of opportunity for growth. There are still a lot of people who try to understand the basics. So, I guess from your personal experience, what advice would you give to someone who is just getting into this field? How would you suggest they get started and get feedback?
Trump Jr.: Yes, something new comes out every day. I think all you need to do is start reading the news. I’m talking about not reading fake news. You have to have diverse perspectives on the field. You can’t just read the contents of an account on X, they’re probably selling something. I think you need to read all about DeFi and start educating yourself, which will make everything less scary.
Start small, don’t invest too much. Don’t expose yourself too much. For beginners, you can invest $100 in Bitcoin, or $1000. Once you are truly involved, not just watching from the sidelines, even with a small amount, you will start paying attention to this field. Suddenly, you will find it no longer so mysterious. If you explain these things to a baby boomer, they may be very interested. This field has a lot of mystery, but if you start trying and participating, even with a small amount, you will start to understand it. I know that when I started investing some real money, suddenly I started paying attention to everything. Once you start paying attention to everything, reading related content, you will start to distinguish what is real and what is nonsense. You will realize that some people are promoting something just for their own benefit. In this way, you will become more alert.
I saw my 16-year-old son start playing some memes. It’s amazing. You see a kid who suddenly gets interested in finance, he puts some money into it, and he starts talking about liquidity. Suddenly, he was like a banker who had worked at Goldman Sachs for 20 years. Because he invested in it, he started to pay attention and get involved. It’s amazing. I think for people, it’s the future of finance. So even if you’ve been in this field for a while, you’re still in the early stages.
As this field develops, for a young entrepreneur, investing some money and getting involved can teach you a lot. This is the best way to understand the basics of business and entrepreneurship. I come from a real estate family, and we have been in real estate for a long time. You can’t let a 15-year-old play in real estate because everything is too slow. We live in a world of instant gratification. If you play Meme coins, it’s not always instant gratification, sometimes quite the opposite. When he starts paying attention and investing, it’s no longer theoretical, he really starts to understand it. For everyone, whether young or old, getting into this field, investing some money, not over-leveraging, not betting the house, but getting involved. When you do this, I think the learning curve will skyrocket like a rocket. It’s like that for him, and it’s the same for me. Just transitioning from an observer to a participant is crucial. We are in a very early stage, and it’s fantastic.
For him, I started to encourage him to do this, because I was very excited to see that the stock market is good, but if you buy some stocks and sit there for 15 years, it may appreciate, but not so quickly or intensely. I think in 18 months, he learned more this way than he did at the Wharton School. It’s amazing. So I said, get into this field, don’t do anything crazy, but start playing with something you’re willing to lose, because it could happen. But just as a participant rather than an observer, your senses will become sharper, which is very important.
One last question. What inspires you? What are you most excited about about what’s coming this year?
Trump Jr.: To be honest, I think for me, the most exciting thing is WLFI. It’s so interesting to see it all unfold. I’ve been a “hard asset real estate person” all my life and have also dabbled in politics in the last few years because I really believe in freedom, and I think freedom was once really in danger. It’s very exciting to be able to do things differently and try to put everything on the chain.
I think people should know, ‘Hey, the CEO of the company whose stock you hold tells you it’s great, but the CEO is quietly selling.’ I think this is a problem. So, I think it is very important to create a product that is as transparent and clear as possible. Put it on the chain, let people understand that if you are trading, we will talk about this. We will show you what we are doing, so it’s no longer a game of insiders and outsiders. We are breaking away from the traditional financial model, in which I know some bankers earn seven figures a year, they have good jobs, but I don’t even know what they are doing. We have been talking about what we are doing with WLFI’s strategic reserves, and we will launch many other great products. Being able to step out of the world of hard asset real estate and enter this field, we buy and hold long term. I think we believe there is enormous potential in this field.
I have spent a lot of time making sure that my father’s government has nothing to do with what we are doing. They are separate from our family business, but we can create this clarity to make others understand, hoping that we can operate it in a way that others see this transparency. They see what we are doing on the chain, which eliminates the mystery of these things. We can truly create a democratized financial platform, where everyone has the opportunity to win, everyone has the opportunity to thrive, and everyone knows what others are doing.
Eliminate some of the opacity that may exist in the world. So, I’m very excited about that. For those who don’t follow, check out WLFI’s X account. Everyone is trying to do something, saying they’re doing something else. Unless you hear it directly from my mouth, from the mouth of my brother, or from the mouth of another good member of the team, take the information from there. I’m very excited about this project, along with the amazing people we’ve gathered, not just the people in the team, but also other partners and great entrepreneurs. As you mentioned earlier, as well as other people who are about to join, they seem to be reaching out to us on a daily basis.
I think we really have the ability to bring all the great minds, ideas, and technology together and fight for what we believe in. If we want the world to see that, I think these things will skyrocket when we achieve that. More people will be involved and no longer spectators, because they will be able to really see what’s going on there.
I’m very excited about it. Every day we talk about this project, some people will do the wrong thing, but there is more to come. So I’m really excited to be a part of this industry and really take on the responsibility of helping to reshape the future of finance." It would be incredible.
(Question from Rock) Is there any insider information about the cryptocurrency sovereign wealth fund? Does WLFI have a fund?
Trump Jr.: Regarding the fund, I know it’s a transition period. I have to be clear, I’m not in the government.
David S, the person in charge of the cryptocurrency field, understands this area well. He understands that in the world we live in, you can see these things happening on the first day. The idea of these tens of billions or even hundreds of billions of dollars in potential. So, you can see that this field, oh, my goodness, it didn’t happen at the stroke of noon on January 20th. But these things take time, they don’t just magically appear. You need to do these things right. So, I know there are people paying attention to all of these things.
I know there are people in the government who absolutely believe this. But you have to understand that as much as you may want to do something right away, you have to work within the framework of reality. So I think that’s definitely something that you’re likely to see in the near future. I’m not in government right now, but I know there’s talk about getting this done. It’s not something you can magically appear with a snap of your fingers. What you’re dealing with is a huge amount of money that has to go through the proper channels. Washington, D.C. doesn’t operate in a reasonable way, it’s not transparent, and you can’t see what’s really going on. Those who are secretly against you.
If you’ve been paying attention for the past nine years, you’ve probably noticed this. Therefore, all these ideas have already been discussed. I had to keep myself. You know, I’m not going to be treated like Hunter Biden. They are the ones who believe in this. They understand its value. They understand that the United States must be at the forefront, not an environment that encourages pushing people away. So I think you’re going to see these things, but I’m sorry if you’re disappointed that it didn’t happen in the first moment, but that’s not realistic either.
We have always followed the principles of the world we are in. So I think you will see a lot of things. I think you will see a lot of exciting trends, not only in the DeFi field, but also in cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. I think many of these things will be utilized. They will create some incredible things that will enable people to use and create, once again filling the truly missing practicality.
As you know, these things cannot happen overnight. You need to give it some time. But I think you will see some incredible things. I think in the end, those who are confident in talking about these things will be very satisfied. You just need to wait a little longer.
This is amazing, I have to say. I’m really glad you didn’t get treated like Hunter Biden.
Trump Jr.: My father’s way of raising children is a bit different. I was already doing these things at Hunter’s age. The Democratic Party will try again.
