Ahead of the November 5, US elections, Donald Trump's crypto venture World Liberty Financial (WLF) is set to launch its own stablecoin. This comes at a time when the former US President announced WLFI token sale was hit with technical snags two weeks ago.
While the WLFI token sale had a goal to raise $300 million, it could only generate $14.24 million. However, unlike the mixed response on the WLFI token sale, crypto analysts are upbeat about the stablecoin launch. Many analysts believe that this is a good attempt to challenge Tether’s dominance, as seen by its $5.2 billion profits in the 2024 first half.
Stanford University crypto researcher Dr. Sarah Cohen said the Donald Trump-backed stablecoin could gain a potential market share by leveraging political and financial connections. She further highlighted how Tether alone holds $81 billion in Treasury bills, showcasing the growth of the stablecoin market.
Donald Trump's stablecoin project has already received substantial backing from the crypto industry ahead of the US presidential election, as it roped in Paxos cofounder, Rich Teo as its payment lead. This comes at a time when the stablecoin industry is under intense scrutiny. This is visible in how Circle is maintaining $34.59 billion in dollar-denominated assets to back its USDC stablecoin.
Speaking about Trump's new crypto venture, the Chief Analyst at CryptoMetrics, Marcus Rodriguez said that the launch of the new stablecoins just before the US elections has added another layer of complexity to the volatile crypto market.
Trump's stablecoin launch announcement is critically important, as the former US President is vocal about his opposition to Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). During his New Hampshire campaign event, Donald Trump raised concerns about the US government's control over digital assets saying that the people wouldn't know when their money was gone; they could take it.
Although the WLF says its aim is to make America great again by fostering mass adoption of decentralised finance (DeFi) and Stablecoins, the SEC could create hurdles for it just like it did for other stablecoin issuers.
The success of the WLF’s stablecoin will depend on Donald Trump's links with key crypto industry players including Tether. The former US President's transition team co-chair, Howard Lutnick, is the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald and has a good rapport with Tether over custodying its assets.
Amidst this, crypto market observers have pointed towards Terra’s USDT stablecoin collapse, which resulted in a loss of $60 billion in May 2022. Former CFTC advisor Jennifer Walsh underlined that the success lies in maintaining transparency and setting up robust collateralization. She lauded the WLF’s team's focus on safety after technical snags during the WLFI token sale. However, details of the backing mechanism will be crucial, Walsh added.
If Donald Trump wins the US elections as indicated in recent surveys then this could be of significant importance as the US Congress will be voting on a stablecoin legislation in 2025. This convergence of political power and financial innovation could reshape the future of digital assets in America.