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Trump’s Crypto Project World Liberty Financial Sparks Betting Activity Ahead of Elections
Explore how Trump’s crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, is influencing betting activity in the lead-up to the elections. Discover the implications for both financial markets and political landscapes.
Trump’s Crypto Venture Sparks Betting Surge
Betting odds on Republican candidate Donald Trump launching a cryptocurrency before the upcoming November presidential elections surged to over 84% on Polymarket early Friday. This spike came shortly after Trump confirmed a launch date for the World Liberty Financial crypto project, which is spearheaded by the Trump family.
Just a day prior, the odds of a “yes” in the market titled “Will Trump launch a coin before the election?” stood at only 40%, with a mere 16% a month ago. However, the landscape shifted dramatically in the past 12 hours as Trump announced that the World Liberty Financial project would officially debut on Monday.
This market has already attracted more than $1.7 million in bets from Polymarket users as of Friday. The resolution criteria for this market stipulate that it will resolve to “Yes” only if there is conclusive evidence that Trump is involved in “deploying a new token” by November 4, 2024, at 11:59 PM ET. This means that simple plans or confirmations about the token will not suffice; there must be an actual token issued on a blockchain that can be independently verified by all parties involved.
A copy of the World Liberty white paper, which was reviewed by CoinDesk, outlines plans for the project to launch a non-transferable governance token named “WLFI.” However, there is still uncertainty regarding Trump’s specific role in this project and whether he will directly oversee the issuance of the proposed token.
Despite the ambiguities, some Polymarket users are betting on the success of the project. One user, identified as “Car,” who holds over 4,400 yes shares, expressed optimism, stating, “The development team has already launched multiple test tokens on Ethereum. Interestingly enough, that’s sufficient to resolve this market to YES.”
Another user, “563defi,” holding 6,600 yes shares, added to the discussion by saying, “Non-fungible tokens are indeed tokens,” referencing Trump’s previous ventures into NFT projects.
On the flip side, skeptics are voicing their doubts about the venture. User “Tenebrus7,” who has placed 2,000 “No” shares, remarked, “Even if a token launches, it will likely be associated with his son. After the previous controversies, Trump may not want to be linked to it anytime soon.”