The Protocol: Crypto Turns Up Nose at Trump Token Sale, 'Gold Paper'

Finally, last week, official details of what the project actually is, or aims to be, began to emerge: Still to be developed and launched, it’s a “best-in-class consumer application,” distinguished by “simple onboarding and familiar UI/UX via one-click social login and wallet creation,” according to a blog post. (UI/UX is shorthand for user interface and user experience.) Under the hood, the project plans to operate an instance of the decentralized-finance (DeFi) project Aave atop the Ethereum blockchain, with plans to eventually deploy on the layer-2 network Scroll, according to the blog. World Liberty Financial even posted a “temperature check” proposal to the Aave governance discussion forum to gather community feedback. One commenter inquired aloud whether the deal made sense for Aave, given that the Trump-affiliated project would promise 20% of revenue to Aave, “compared to 100% from the main Aave instance,” and added that “it’s worth evaluating whether this might lead to internal competition between Aave’s current market and WLF’s, or if the growth from new users and increased liquidity will far exceed any potential downside.” One snarky poster wrote that “the irony of a man notorious for not paying back creditors launching a decentralized lending protocol is almost too good to be true.”