Donald Trump promotes new crypto platform to take on banks

Mysterious DeFiant Ones project claims to be the ‘future of finance’

Former US President Donald Trump speaks in Montezuma Pass, Arizona, 22 August, 2024 (Getty Images)

Donald Trump has announced plans to launch a new cryptocurrency platform that he claims will challenge the dominance of big banks and take on “financial elites”.

The Republican candidate, who in recent months has pitched himself as the first ‘crypto president’, promoted the new DeFiant Ones platform in a post to Truth Social on Thursday, though gave few details about what it will involve.

“For too long, the average American has been squeezed by the big banks and financial elites,” the former US president wrote in the post to his 7.5 million followers. “It’s time we take a stand – together.”

The post included a link to a channel on the messaging app Telegram, which has already attracted more than 40,000 subscribers.

The channel offers no further information about the project, though promises the followers that it will be “the future of finance”.

Last month, Mr Trump appeared as a keynote speaker at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, outlining his plans for the crypto industry if he wins November’s election.

Donald Trump departs after speaking at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Tennessee, on 27 July, 2024 (The Associated Press)

He told the crowd that he would “immediately appoint a bitcoin and crypto presidential advisory council” and create a “national bitcoin stockpile” from seized criminal funds.

His comments came less than three years after he said that he was “not a fan” of bitcoin and dismissed it as a “scam”.

Both of his sons have been teasing the new DeFiant Ones crypto platform in recent days, with Eric Trump describing it as “digital real estate” in an interview with the New York Post. Digital real estate could either refer to the tokenisation of real-world assets, or the creation of virtual property within the metaverse.

“It’s equitable. It’s collateral anyone can get access to and do so instantly,” Eric told the publication. “I don’t know if people realise what a shake up that is for the world of banking and finance. I hope we can help change that.”