GuShiio.com The United States should take a leadership role in the financial future, rather than pushing companies overseas through excessive regulation.
Compiled 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, an event around ETH Denver, and discussed with important guests from the crypto industry, encryption regulatory policies, the future of DeFi and the role of the United States in it. Its core views are as follows:
The need for regulatory frameworks: The cryptocurrency and DeFi space needs a clear regulatory framework to define what can and cannot be done. He believes that the lack of clear regulations will cause companies to be forced offshore and missed opportunities, and called on the United States to formulate reasonable regulations to ensure investor safety and industry development.
The United States should lead the financial future: The United States should play a leadership role in the financial future, rather than pushing companies overseas through excessive regulation. He advocated that the United States should lead the global development of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology by formulating sensible regulations.
Financial democratization: Through projects such as World Liberty Finance, we combine traditional finance with decentralized finance to provide liquidity, stability and transparency to more people, thereby achieving financial democratization. He criticized the opacity and exclusiveness of the existing financial system and believed that cryptocurrency and blockchain technology could provide equal financial opportunities for more people.
Technology and Innovation: Be confident in the potential of cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies that will revolutionize the financial industry. He particularly emphasized the importance of transparency and on-chain operations, believing that this could eliminate opacity and corruption in traditional finance.
Advice for novices: It is recommended that novices start with small investments, gradually understand the cryptocurrency field, and avoid excessive leverage. He emphasized the importance of education and participation, believing that only by truly participating in it can we better understand this rapidly developing field.
Expectations for the future: I am looking forward to the future of World Liberty Finance and its partners, believing that by integrating various technologies and projects, it can bring revolutionary changes to the global financial system and provide financial freedom and opportunities to more people.
Jk, a North American reporter for Odaily Planet Daily, participated in the event and compiled and edited the original dialogue as follows ~
Q: The United States is an important leader in the cryptocurrency field. What 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 the world, our family also participated through projects such as WLFI. Surprisingly, even if you have access to the best lawyers and experts in the world, no one really knows what you can and cannot do. Few people are willing to face excessive abuse of the cryptocurrency space by agencies such as the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). 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 this is not done, the company will be forced to offshore, and the loss of opportunity costs will be huge. I think this is very ridiculous. We need to create a regulatory framework that makes people feel safe and ensures they can invest with confidence. I stopped taking office after noon on January 20, but during the transition period we spent a lot of time bringing in people who not only understood traditional finance (TradFi), but also really understood cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance (DeFi) to develop a sound regulatory framework and laws.
I think the problem I’ve seen in Washington, D.C. over the past few decades is that those who make decisions often have no idea of the subject matter they are legislating. They just stayed there longer, so they had qualifications and might sit on a committee. I entered the real estate industry after graduating from Wharton in 2000 and witnessed firsthand the financial crisis of 2007-2008. I have seen members of the Financial Committee asking seemingly sharp questions, but in fact they have no idea what is being discussed. If you really understand these topics, you realize, my God, these people are making trillion-dollar decisions without any basis for understanding. So we need a regulatory framework guided by people who truly understand the business, whether it’s the new Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission or Scott and others at the Treasury Department.
I have helped come up with ideas in the cryptocurrency space, such as 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 technology, so why not let him play a role in cryptocurrency? So we built a team that really understood what we were doing so you didn’t just get a bunch of regulations and obstacles. This is a very critical opportunity for us to create what the industry really needs. I think we have people who know enough about the industry to do this, not just because people make decisions without practical knowledge, and the solution is worse than the problem itself.
To be honest, I think the SEC and the DOJ have set up too many obstacles over the past few years in the Biden administration, which is almost disruptive, even predatory, in an attempt to stifle the incredible innovation of cryptocurrency. The same goes for DeFi and other related technologies. Now, I think we have people who can develop frameworks that understand the area and can open the floodgates to people who really want to develop in America. They just want a reasonable environment in the United States, not worry about being sent to prison for 25 years for some nonsense. So I am very excited about the actions the new government will take. I am proud to be part of the team that has helped drive this process forward.
My father would eventually make these decisions himself, but he understood how critical they were to the future of finance. I think this is the future of finance. The United States should be at the forefront rather than setting up obstacles to push these companies overseas. I’m so excited about those in government that we can do this right, make it meaningful, and dominate the industry for the foreseeable future and even forever.
You launched your own cryptocurrency platform WLFI. Can you tell us what the vision and mission of this platform is? How will it revolutionize the DeFi and TradFi realms?
Trump Jr.：I think the real vision is to combine DeFi and traditional finance and integrate them into one. Everyone wants mobility, but not everyone has access to it. I learned this through political experience over the past few years. A few months ago, I made some comments online that the current financial system felt like a giant Ponzi scheme. I say this because when I entered the financial world after graduating from Wharton, I worked in real estate and finance in New York. As a member of the Trump family, I may not realize it, but I am 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 over the phone and get what I wanted. Because of who we are and because of our balance sheet, it’s all easy. But when we got into the political realm, all of these access rights suddenly disappeared.
I realized how undemocratic the financial system is. As long as you do what they say, everything will be fine. But if you don’t, many Americans, and even people around the world, will be discriminated against. So I think our idea is to bridge that gap and provide mobility to people who have never had an opportunity. I think we can do a lot of amazing things. There are currently no bond products or treasury bonds in the cryptocurrency space to combine these two worlds. As I mentioned before, we need the right team to do this, which will bring liquidity and more importantly stability.
The real goal is to democratize finance. I think cryptocurrencies are doing a good job in this regard, but there are still many pitfalls. The field is still very new, and I’m sure some of the people in the room have been in the field for 15 years, so it’s not new to them. But I really feel like we are on the verge of a major breakthrough. So bringing these two worlds together is something we are trying to do and provide great products that people can use. I think many people are artificially excluded from the traditional financial world and don’t have access to these resources because they don’t meet certain conditions or are considered not “sexy” or “cool” enough. So I am very excited about being able to truly democratize finance. As someone who was once at the top of this artificial Ponzi scheme, I quickly realized what it felt like to be at the bottom of this scheme. I realized that this is not what America is about, and that is not what financial freedom is about. So we are very excited to get into this space, grow with everyone, and help bring all these great products together.
Regarding “World Free Finance”, it has recently reached partnerships with many partners, from Chile to Tron to Ondo Finance. I want to ask you, what kind of partnership is World Free Finance looking for?
Trump Jr.：Similar to the first question, we want to combine the traditional finance and cryptocurrency worlds. We want to be an integrator, bringing all the great things together, and we don’t intend to do it alone. We are looking for partners for various excellent projects. You mentioned some, but there are many more. We need these projects and their wisdom. We must bring all these great technologies, great minds and great ideas together to bridge this gap again. I think if we can do that, if we can integrate, we can create the stability that is necessary for this field to take off. We can simplify some of the complexities and make them more accessible to ordinary Americans and people around the world. So we are looking to work with these top projects so that everyone can work in the same direction and truly change the entire industry.
I think you will see more powerful announcements in the days, weeks and months to come. As I said, it’s great to see all the people who understand this contact us and think we can be catalysts for bringing these great ideas together. I think this is a very basic and the most important part.
Blockchain and centralized finance bring many solutions to traditional financial markets. What problems and challenges do you think it solves in traditional finance?
Trump Jr.：I think we need to create practicality. A lot of these ideas are great, but if you’ve been in the field for a long time, you can reach the best people and minds. But for ordinary people, we must strive to create practicality. I think there are many solutions that everyone wants to get that kind of mobility. People need to be able to access all these areas. So I think the biggest solution we can try to create is to create this practicality and bring all the great partners together, and I think this will do just that. This takes time.
Right now, it all feels like an “inside game,” but ultimately, it’s about creating practicality. You can create democratization of finance and bring others into the field. As I mentioned before, this field was once the exclusive domain of the rich and powerful. If we can create this practicality so that everyone can actually use it, make basic transactions simple and bring liquidity into the market, this will be something that really changes the rules of the game. You see other places competing for this as well.
I interviewed the leader of the Venezuelan opposition party earlier and she won more than 90% of the votes. She is a staunch supporter of cryptocurrencies because even if she wins 90% of the votes, they are able to shut her up, shut down her business, and cut off her communication channels. I think once you create practicality, create an electronic signature and put it on the chain, you have transparency. There are many things we can do to create a level playing field for those who don’t have a chance. I think it’s very exciting. I think this is a game changer not only for the industry, but also for the world and freedom itself.
There may be some people out there who are not satisfied with this answer, but listen, we have seen what they can do in the United States. If you don’t buy them, they will attack you. They did this when my father was first president, and even if he was the most powerful man in the world, at least on paper, they could cut you off. They can only promote a narrative and exploit this bias. Even in the United States, you would think it was impossible, but you saw what they did, what they attacked many people, and what they imprisoned big figures in the early cryptocurrency world like Ross Ulbricht, who paved the way for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. They don’t like it, it doesn’t matter.
We are moving towards a world independent of power, which is very scary for many authoritarian regimes. I think some of these regimes may be closer to us than we think.
The revolution in the DeFi field began in 2020, and since then, it has evolved from pledge, re-pledge, and various innovative DEXs to modular DEXs. But this area is still very new and has great growth opportunities. There are still many people trying to understand the basics. So, I think based on your personal experience, what advice would you give to those who are just entering the field? Would you advise them how to start and get feedback?
Trump Jr.：Yes, new things appear every day. I think what you need to do is start reading the news. I said don’t read fake news. You must have diverse perspectives on this field. You can’t just read an account on X, they might be promoting something. I think you need to read everything about DeFi and start educating yourself, which will make everything less scary.
Start small and don’t invest too much money. Don’t over-expose yourself. For those who are just getting started, you can invest $100 into Bitcoin, or $1000. Once you are truly involved, rather than just watching, even for a small amount, you will start paying attention to the area. Suddenly, you’ll find it’s not so mysterious anymore. If you explain this to a baby boomer generation, they might be very interested. There is a lot of mystery in this area, but if you start trying and participating in it, even for a small amount, you will start to understand it. I knew that when I started investing some real money, suddenly I started paying attention to everything. Once you start paying attention to everything and reading relevant content, you start to distinguish what is true 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 with some Meme. This is amazing. You see a child suddenly interested in finance, he puts some money in and starts talking about liquidity. Suddenly, he was like a banker who had worked at Goldman Sachs for 20 years. Because he invested money, he began to pay attention and participate in it. This is amazing. I think for people, this is the future of finance. So even if you have been in the field for a while, you are still in the early stages.
As this field develops, for a young entrepreneur, you can learn a lot by investing some money and participating in it. This is the best way to understand the basics of business and entrepreneurship. I come from a real estate family and we have been doing real estate for a long time. You can’t let a 15-year-old play 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 satisfaction, sometimes the opposite. When he started paying attention and investing money, it was no longer a theoretical thing, he began to truly understand it. For everyone, young or old, get into this space, invest some money, don’t over-leverage, don’t bet on the house, but start participating. When you do that, I think the learning curve goes up like a rocket. That’s true for him and it’s true for me. It’s just that it’s critical to change from a bystander to a participant. We are at a very early stage, which is great.
For him, I started encouraging him to do this because I was very excited to see that the stock market was good, but you buy some stocks and sit there for 15 years, and it might appreciate, but it’s not so quickly and not so intense. I think in 18 months, he learned more in this way than he learned at Wharton. This is amazing. So I say, get into this space and don’t do anything crazy, but start playing with something you’re willing to lose because that could happen. But just as a participant rather than a bystander, your senses become more acute, which is critical.
One last question. What inspires you? What are you most excited about about what is about to happen this year?
Trump Jr.：To be honest, I think the most exciting thing for me is WLFI. It’s so interesting to see how this all develops. I have been a “hard asset real estate person” all my life, and I have also been involved in politics in the past few years because I really believe in freedom, and I think freedom was once really in danger. Being able to do things differently and try to put everything on the chain is very exciting.
I think people should know,”Hey, the CEO of the company you hold tells you it’s great, but the CEO is quietly selling it.” I think this is a problem. So I think it’s important to create a product that is as transparent and clear as possible. Put it on the chain and let people understand that if you are buying and selling, we will talk about it. We’ll show you what we’re doing so it’s no longer a game about insiders and outsiders. We are moving away from the traditional financial model where I know some bankers make seven figures a year and they have great jobs, but I don’t even know what they are doing. We have been talking about what we are doing with WLFI Strategic Reserve and we will launch many other great products. Being able to get out of the world of hard asset real estate and enter this field, we buy and hold it for a long time. I think we believe there is huge potential in this area.
I spent a lot of time making sure my father’s government had nothing to do with what we were doing. They are independent and separate from the family business, but we can create this clarity that others understand, and hopefully we can run it in a way that others see this transparency. They see what we do on the chain, which removes the mystery of these things. We can truly create a democratic financial platform where everyone has a chance to win, everyone has a chance to thrive, and everyone knows what other people are doing.
Eliminate some opacity that may exist in the world. So I am very excited about this. For those who don’t follow, please check WLFI’s X account. Everyone is trying to do something and saying they are doing something else. Unless you hear it directly from me, from my brothers, or from other outstanding members of the team, get it from there. I am very excited about this project, together with the outstanding talents we have gathered, not only the people on the team, but also other partners and outstanding entrepreneurs. As you mentioned before, and others who are about to join, they seem to be contacting us every day.
I think we really have the ability to put all the great minds, ideas and technology together to fight for what we believe in. If we want the world to see this, I think when we achieve this, these things will evolve rapidly. More people will get involved and stop watching because they will be able to truly see what’s happening there.
I am very excited about this. Every day we talk about this project, some people will do things wrong, but there is more to come. So I am very excited to be part of this industry and truly take on the responsibility of helping reshape the future of finance. This would be incredible.
Is there any inside news about cryptocurrency sovereign funds? Does WLFI have a fund?
Trump Jr.：Regarding funds, I know this is a transition period. I have to be clear that I am not in government.
David S., head of the cryptocurrency space, understands this space. He understands that in the world we live in, you can see these things happen on the first day. These ideas have the potential of billions or even tens of billions of dollars. So you can see in this field, oh my God, it didn’t happen at 12 noon on January 20. But these things take time, and they don’t magically appear. You need to do these things correctly. So I know someone is paying attention to all these things.
I know there are people in the government who absolutely believe this. But you must understand that although you may want to do something immediately, you must work within a realistic framework. So I think this is definitely something you might see in the near future. I’m not in government right now, but I know there is discussion about getting this done. This is not something that you can magically pop up just by snapping your fingers. You are dealing with huge amounts of money and must go through the appropriate channels. Washington D.C. does not operate in a reasonable way, it is not transparent, and you don’t see what’s really happening. Those who are secretly opposed to you.
If you’ve been paying attention for the past nine years, you’ve probably noticed this. Therefore, all of these ideas have been discussed. I have to remain myself. You know, I won’t get the treatment of Hunter Biden. They are the ones who believe this. They understand its value. They understand that the United States must be at the forefront, not encourage an environment that pushes people away. So I think you’ll see these things, but if you’re disappointed that it didn’t happen at the first moment, I’m sorry, but it’s not realistic either.
We have always followed the rules of the world we live in. So I think you will see a lot of things. I think you will see a lot of exciting developments, not only in the DeFi space, but also in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. I think a lot of these things will be used. They will create something incredible that people can use and create, once again filling in those truly missing practicality.
As you know, these things cannot happen overnight. You need to give it some time. But I think you will see something incredible. I think in the end, those who are confident in us talking about these things will feel very satisfied. You just have to wait a little longer.
This is great, I have to say. I’m really glad you weren’t treated like Hunter Biden.
Trump Jr.：My father raised him a little differently. I was already doing these things when I was Hunter’s age. Democrats will try again.
