President-elect Trump's crypto token receives $30 million investment from banana auction billionaire, showcasing new ways to increase wealth.

• President-elect Donald Trump's crypto project, World Liberty Financial, has received a $30 million investment from Justin Sun, the founder of blockchain.
• The platform aims to function as a digital asset bank, promoting borrowing, lending, and investing in cryptocurrencies. Additionally, it introduced the WLFI token.
• DT Marks DEFI LLC, a company owned by Trump, is entitled to 75% of any revenue over $30 million. Prior to Sun's investment, the platform had sold $21 million of tokens. Currently, it has sold $51 million.

On Monday, Justin Sun, the founder of Tron blockchain, revealed that he had invested $30 million in Donald Trump's crypto project, World Liberty Financial.

Sun wrote on X that he is thrilled to invest $30 million in World Liberty Financial as its largest investor.

A banana duct-taped to a wall sold for $6.2 million at a Sotheby's auction, making headlines recently.

World Liberty Financial, a crypto platform endorsed by Trump, aims to function as a digital asset bank, promoting borrowing, lending, and investing in cryptocurrencies.

Trump's LLC received billions of tokens and the right to 75% of revenues above a $30 million threshold in exchange for licensing his name and promotional considerations to the venture through an LLC, with no assumption of liability.

Last month, the platform introduced a WLFI token and announced plans to raise $300 million at a $1.5 billion valuation during its initial sale.

As of Monday afternoon, $51.2 million worth of the token had been sold, surpassing the $30 million threshold to trigger revenue distribution to Trump's LLC.

"TRON is committed to making America great again and leading innovation, and owes it to @realDonaldTrump. Let's go!" added Sun.

According to Etherscan's blockchain data, only about 20,400 unique wallet addresses hold the token, which is roughly 20% of the total number of people who registered on WLFI's whitelist. Zachary Folkman, co-founder of WLFI, stated that "well over 100,000 people" are on the whitelist to invest in the token.

"Folkman stated that there have been several significant purchases recently, and they are confident about future success and expanding something that promotes fairer and more accessible finance. They anticipate more developments in the coming weeks and months."

Trump's newer business ventures, such as his social media company and this crypto venture, could provide individuals with more direct opportunities to enrich the president-elect than his hotels and office buildings did.

In Trump's first term, there were continuous concerns about whether foreign governments' extravagant spending on accommodations and feasts at his Washington, D.C. hotel violated the Constitution's "emoluments clause."

Federal officeholders are prohibited from receiving payments or gifts from foreign governments and their representatives.

The fixed prices of Trump's hotel rooms and office space reduce his total profits.

In contrast to the investors in Trump's earlier ventures, those in his newer ones, as evidenced by Sun's token purchase, can inject large sums of money quickly and with minimal expense.

No immediate response was received from spokespeople for the Trump presidential transition, World Liberty Financial, and Sun's Tron when requested for comment.

Trump has moved on to other agency and department leaders after completing his cabinet appointments over the weekend.

On November 18, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong reportedly met with Trump to discuss potential appointments. The following day, discussions emerged about the possibility of Trump creating the White House's first crypto czar.

Gary Gensler, the SEC chairman and longtime crypto foe, announced his retirement on Inauguration Day, even though his term doesn't expire until June 2026.

The SEC has not yet appointed a successor to Gensler, and under new leadership, the securities regulator may decide to drop some enforcement actions against major crypto companies. The impact of this on Tron's case is uncertain.

In March 2023, the commission disclosed fraud and unregistered securities charges against Sun, as well as separate violations against the celebrity backers of his Tronix and BitTorrent crypto assets, including Jake Paul, Lindsay Lohan, and Soulja Boy.

The SEC accused Sun of fraud by falsifying the trading activity of two tokens, giving the impression of active trading when it did not occur. Meanwhile, the unregistered offer and sale charges that the SEC has brought against Sun are similar to those it has previously brought against other crypto offerings and exchanges, such as Genesis, Gemini, Binance, and Kraken.

This election cycle, the crypto industry made a significant presence with notable sector leaders such as Gemini co-founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, and executives from crypto firms fighting the SEC, contributing to PACs supporting the Trump campaign.