唐纳德·特朗普的加密交易如何推动腐败的界限

凯尔·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.

假设有一个具有巨大政治权力的人，他会生产100亿抽奖券并公开出售。购买这些抽奖券的参与者最终将获得一定百分比的“魔豆”作为奖励，并且每个“魔豆”都可以换成一美元。更重要的是，如果提前购买抽奖券，价格将少于1美元，甚至可能低至5美分。这些抽奖券不仅会在将来为持有人带来更多传统的货币福利，而且还赋予持有人对公司事务的投票权，使他们能够参与“魔豆”的供应管理，并且他们购买的抽奖券越多，他们的声音就会越大。应当指出的是，抽奖的发起人将为自己保留一批抽奖券，而“魔豆”经济产生的大部分收入都会流向他的手中。

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.)

上面的描述实际上反映了与特朗普家族相关的公司World Liberty Financial推出的新加密货币的工作机制。该公司由总统唐纳德·特朗普（Donald Trump）担任“首席加密辩护人”。加密货币是一个称为WLFI的所谓治理令牌，就像抽奖券一样，另一个称为USD1的“ Stablecoin”对应于“ Magic Beans”。世界自由金融参与了“分散金融”的新兴领域，在这种领域中，加密货币工具使用户能够在没有传统的，受监管的银行生态系统的情况下转移，存储和借入资金。稳定币是与单一货币（例如一美元）的价值固定的加密货币，但它们并不总是保持稳定 - 例如，曾经成功的Stablecoin Terra失去了钉子并在2022年倒闭。只要Stablecoins不被确认为证券（例如，公共交易公司的股票），其法律状况相关）。世界自由金融的一份声明说：“世界自由金融并不认为这些代币是证券。” 2023年1月，特朗普通过一家名为DT Marks Defi的公司悄悄地获得了世界自由金融的控制权。尽管披露表明特朗普家庭成员不是世界自由金融的“高管，董事或雇员”，但DT Marks Defi获得了其子公司净收入的75％。 （剩下的25％归Axiom Management Group，该小组与世界自由金融的两位官方领导人，Chase Herro和Zachary Folkman有关；值得注意的是，Folkman还经营着一家名为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.

特朗普曾经是加密货币怀疑论者，在2019年的一条推文中说：“我不喜欢比特币。”然而，近年来，他积极地促进了各种“魔豆”项目，从而为一个行业提供了PR的推动，在该行业中，初创公司在他们下台后常常很快死亡。 2022年，他推出了特朗普数字交易卡，这是一系列不可杀死的令牌（NFTS）继续发布新批次，其中包括2024年1月的“杯子镜头”版本，其中包含他闪烁警察的照片。 （“ Mug Shot” NFT的买家收到了Mar-a-Lago的邀请。）在就职典礼前三天，他还推出了一个所谓的模因硬币，这是一种基于在线名望的加密货币，早期买家以更高的价格出售给后来的买家以更高的价格出售给更高的价格，本质上是一项金字化计划。特朗普模因硬币（特朗普$）由十亿硬币组成，其中80％由特朗普相关的公司持有，其余的则将其出售给公众。据报道，其销售收入约为3.5亿美元，市场价值接近30亿美元；值得注意的是，特朗普的商业实体从每笔特朗普的成员交易中赚取费用。

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

特朗普纪念价格现在已经下跌至其历史最高点的五分之一，许多买家对他们的投资贬值。随后的“ Melania Trump Memecoin”的表现甚至更糟。但是，特朗普的附属组织及其与加密相关的项目“战斗战斗”举行的活动最近导致特朗普的价格反弹。在这款加密嘉年华嘉年华将作为入场券作为门票，前220家持有人将有资格与唐纳德·特朗普（Donald Trump）共进晚餐 - 这份晚宴将在华盛顿特区的特朗普国家高尔夫俱乐部举行，实际上是建立了一个新的政治捐款渠道；前25名“鲸鱼”持有人将可以进入闭门接待。由代币控股公司建立的新游说访问机制将加密货币持有物直接转换为政治通道资本，这使得特朗普成为传统政治捐赠系统之外的替代权力实现渠道。许多纪念性投资者来自海外，其中一些人并没有秘密地以这种方式影响特朗普的政策议程。例如，一位澳大利亚企业家告诉《纽约时报》，他希望与总统讨论加密政策，而墨西哥买家说，他希望引起特朗普对关税的关注