Former US President Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency platform, World Liberty Financial, had a disappointing debut on Tuesday, with only a small percentage of its digital tokens sold on the first day of trading.
Trump, who announced the launch alongside his sons and other entrepreneurs in mid-September, put 20 billion digital tokens on the market, priced at 1.5 cents each, amounting to a potential $300 million. However, by Tuesday evening, just three percent of the tokens had found buyers.
The digital tokens are intended to function as cryptocurrencies and provide users with voting rights on the platform’s governance. Despite these features, the platform struggled to attract buyers, with many observers attributing the lacklustre sales to technical issues. The company’s website experienced outages earlier in the day, affecting user access.
World Liberty Financial plans to allow users to lend and borrow cryptocurrencies from one another, similar to services provided by established platforms like Aave.
This launch marks a significant shift in Trump’s stance on digital currencies. Despite having previously labelled cryptocurrencies a “scam” during his presidency, he now promotes himself as a “pro-bitcoin president” in his bid for re-election.
