唐納德·特朗普的加密交易如何推動腐敗的界限

凱爾·夏伊卡（Kyle Chayka）

Suppose there is an individual with great political power who produces 10 billion raffle tickets and sells them publicly. Participants who purchase these raffle tickets will eventually receive a certain percentage of "magic beans" as rewards, and each "magic bean" can be exchanged for one dollar. More importantly, if the raffle tickets are purchased in advance, the price will be less than one dollar, and may even be as low as five cents each. These raffle tickets will not only bring more traditional currency benefits to the holder in the future, but also give the holder voting rights on company affairs, enabling them to participate in the management of the supply of "magic beans", and the more raffle tickets they purchase, the greater their voice will be. It should be noted that the initiator of the raffle will keep a batch of raffle tickets for himself, and most of the income generated by the "magic bean" economy will flow into his hands.

假設有一個具有巨大政治權力的人，他會生產100億抽獎券並公開出售。購買這些抽獎券的參與者最終將獲得一定百分比的“魔豆”作為獎勵，並且每個“魔豆”都可以換成一美元。更重要的是，如果提前購買抽獎券，價格將少於1美元，甚至可能低至5美分。這些抽獎券不僅會在將來為持有人帶來更多傳統的貨幣福利，而且還賦予持有人對公司事務的投票權，使他們能夠參與“魔豆”的供應管理，並且他們購買的抽獎券越多，他們的聲音就會越大。應當指出的是，抽獎的發起人將為自己保留一批抽獎券，而“魔豆”經濟產生的大部分收入都會流向他的手中。

The above description actually reflects the working mechanism of a new cryptocurrency being launched by World Liberty Financial, a company linked to the Trump family. The company is headed by President Donald Trump as "Chief Crypto Advocate". The cryptocurrency is a so-called governance token called WLFI, which is like raffle tickets, and another "stablecoin" called USD1 corresponds to "magic beans". World Liberty Financial is involved in the emerging field of "decentralized finance", in which cryptocurrency tools enable users to transfer, store and borrow funds without the traditional, regulated banking ecosystem. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that are pegged to the value of a single currency, such as one dollar, but they don't always stay stable—for example, the once successful stablecoin Terra lost its peg and collapsed in 2022. As long as stablecoins are not recognized as securities (such as stocks of publicly traded companies), their legal status is relatively vague. A statement from World Liberty Financial said: "World Liberty Financial does not consider these tokens to be securities." In January 2023, the Trumps quietly acquired a controlling stake in World Liberty Financial through a company called DT Marks Defi. Although disclosures indicate that Trump family members are not “executives, directors, or employees” of World Freedom Finance, DT Marks Defi receives 75% of its subsidiaries’ net income. (The remaining 25% goes to Axiom Management Group, which is linked to the two official leaders of World Freedom Finance, Chase Herro and Zachary Folkman; it’s worth noting that Folkman also runs a company called Date Hotter Girls.)

上面的描述實際上反映了與特朗普家族相關的公司World Liberty Financial推出的新加密貨幣的工作機制。該公司由總統唐納德·特朗普（Donald Trump）擔任“首席加密辯護人”。加密貨幣是一個稱為WLFI的所謂治理令牌，就像抽獎券一樣，另一個稱為USD1的“ Stablecoin”對應於“ Magic Beans”。世界自由金融參與了“分散金融”的新興領域，在這種領域中，加密貨幣工具使用戶能夠在沒有傳統的，受監管的銀行生態系統的情況下轉移，存儲和借入資金。穩定幣是與單一貨幣（例如一美元）的價值固定的加密貨幣，但它們並不總是保持穩定 - 例如，曾經成功的Stablecoin Terra失去了釘子並在2022年倒閉。只要Stablecoins不被確認為證券（例如，公共交易公司的股票），其法律狀況相關）。世界自由金融的一份聲明說：“世界自由金融並不認為這些代幣是證券。” 2023年1月，特朗普通過一家名為DT Marks Defi的公司悄悄地獲得了世界自由金融的控制權。儘管披露表明特朗普家庭成員不是世界自由金融的“高管，董事或僱員”，但DT Marks Defi獲得了其子公司淨收入的75％。 （剩下的25％歸Axiom Management Group，該小組與世界自由金融的兩位官方領導人，Chase Herro和Zachary Folkman有關；值得注意的是，Folkman還經營著一家名為Date Hot Tir Girls的公司）。

Trump was once a cryptocurrency skeptic, stating in a 2019 tweet: “I don’t like Bitcoin.” Yet in recent years he has aggressively promoted various “magic beans” projects, giving a PR boost to an industry where startups often die quickly after they get off the ground. In 2022, he launched Trump digital trading cards, a series of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that continue to release new batches, including a January 2024 “mug shot” version featuring a photo of him glaring at a police officer. (Buyers of the “mug shot” NFT received an invitation to Mar-a-Lago.) Three days before his inauguration, he also launched a so-called meme coin, a cryptocurrency based on online fame that early buyers sell to later buyers at a higher price, essentially a pyramid scheme. Trump Meme Coin ($TRUMP) consists of one billion coins, 80% of which are held by Trump-related companies and the rest are sold to the public. Its sales reportedly generated approximately $350 million in revenue, with a market value of nearly $3 billion; notably, Trump’s business entities earn fees from every Trump MemeCoin transaction.

特朗普曾經是加密貨幣懷疑論者，在2019年的一條推文中說：“我不喜歡比特幣。”然而，近年來，他積極地促進了各種“魔豆”項目，從而為一個行業提供了PR的推動，在該行業中，初創公司在他們下台後常常很快死亡。 2022年，他推出了特朗普數字交易卡，這是一系列不可殺死的令牌（NFTS）繼續發布新批次，其中包括2024年1月的“杯子鏡頭”版本，其中包含他閃爍警察的照片。 （“ Mug Shot” NFT的買家收到了Mar-a-Lago的邀請。）在就職典禮前三天，他還推出了一個所謂的模因硬幣，這是一種基於在線名望的加密貨幣，早期買家以更高的價格出售給後來的買家以更高的價格出售給更高的價格，本質上是一項金字化計劃。特朗普模因硬幣（特朗普$）由十億硬幣組成，其中80％由特朗普相關的公司持有，其餘的則將其出售給公眾。據報導，其銷售收入約為3.5億美元，市場價值接近30億美元；值得注意的是，特朗普的商業實體從每筆特朗普的成員交易中賺取費用。

Trump memecoin prices have now fallen to less than one-fifth of their all-time highs, and many buyers have experienced a devaluation of their investments. The subsequent "Melania Trump memecoin" has performed even worse. However, an event held by Trump's affiliated organization and its crypto-related project "Fight Fight Fight" has recently caused the price of Trumpcoin to rebound. In this crypto carnival with on-chain holdings as admission tickets, the top 220 holders of holdings will be eligible to have dinner with Donald Trump - this dinner will be held at Trump National Golf Club in Washington, DC, which actually builds a new channel for political donations; and the top 25 "whale" holders will have access to a closed-door reception. The new lobbying access mechanism constructed by token holdings directly converts cryptocurrency holdings into political access capital, making Trumpcoin an alternative power realization channel outside the traditional political donation system. Many memecoin investors are from overseas, and some of them have made no secret of their desire to influence Trump's policy agenda in this way. For example, an Australian entrepreneur told The New York Times that he hopes to discuss crypto policy with the president, while a Mexican buyer said he hopes to get Trump's attention on tariffs

特朗普紀念價格現在已經下跌至其歷史最高點的五分之一，許多買家對他們的投資貶值。隨後的“ Melania Trump Memecoin”的表現甚至更糟。但是，特朗普的附屬組織及其與加密相關的項目“戰鬥戰鬥”舉行的活動最近導致特朗普的價格反彈。在這款加密嘉年華嘉年華將作為入場券作為門票，前220家持有人將有資格與唐納德·特朗普（Donald Trump）共進晚餐 - 這份晚宴將在華盛頓特區的特朗普國家高爾夫俱樂部舉行，實際上是建立了一個新的政治捐款渠道；前25名“鯨魚”持有人將可以進入閉門接待。由代幣控股公司建立的新遊說訪問機制將加密貨幣持有物直接轉換為政治通道資本，這使得特朗普成為傳統政治捐贈系統之外的替代權力實現渠道。許多紀念性投資者來自海外，其中一些人並沒有秘密地以這種方式影響特朗普的政策議程。例如，一位澳大利亞企業家告訴《紐約時報》，他希望與總統討論加密政策，而墨西哥買家說，他希望引起特朗普對關稅的關注