Former President Donald Trump appeared to promote an “official” cryptocurrency project using his name on Truth Social on Thursday.
“For too long, the average American has been squeezed by big banks and financial elites. It’s time to take a stand — together. #BeDefiant,” the post read. The Republican presidential candidate also added a link to the Telegram channel on his official DeFi project.
“DeFi” stands for decentralized finance and refers to financial operations on the blockchain. It includes cryptocurrency trading and fund transfer outside the jurisdiction of banks.
Trump’s message about the project is the result of a series of steps he has taken to align himself with the cryptocurrency community, which is highly active online and close-knit.
After referring to the cryptocurrency as a “scam against the dollar” in 2021, Trump praised it this summer while speaking at a bitcoin conference, as cryptocurrency companies have dramatically increased their political donations. A Public Citizen report found that the crypto industry has donated $119 million this year to try to influence federal elections. This number represents almost half of all corporate payments this year. Trump has made investments in the industry and now owns over $1 million in cryptocurrencies. He also dabbled in crypto with an NFT project where people can buy digital cartoons of him linked to the blockchain.
Trump’s embrace of crypto has also coincided with the positions of several well-known venture capitalists and technologists, most notably Elon Musk.
Trump’s son Eric previously teased “big announcements” about cryptocurrencies and DeFi at X on August 6. A Telegram channel linked to Trump was created the same day and quickly began gaining subscribers on Thursday, with nearly 30,000 subscribers within an hour. Trump published about it.
Before Trump’s Truth Social post, the Telegram group shared Telegram Premium subscriptions and welcomed subscribers to “the only official Telegram channel for the Trump DeFi project!”
Telegram, a Dubai-based chat app, has been known to host extreme and pro-Trump content outside the guidelines of other social media platforms. After January 6, 2021, the platform banned some extremist groups.
While the popularity of cryptocurrency has skyrocketed in recent years, it has also been an attractive tool and target for scammers and hackers.
“Stay alert and don’t fall for impersonation or scams – our team will never send you a DM,” the channel wrote in its announcement.
Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
