They had assembled for a rare media interview. Alongside other advisors and executives, the trio wanted to promote World Liberty Financial, the company at the center of the Trump family\u2019s lucrative crypto business, and its latest $1.5 billion deal<\/a>. But first they had to rag on each other.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a man that I look up to,\u201d Witkoff said of the 47th president. \u201cHe\u2019s a man that I\u2019ve named my first son, Don, after.\u201d<\/p>\n Donald Jr. responded with mock outrage. \u201cWait, I thought it was \u2026 ,\u201d he said, trailing off, implying that he thought it was himself, not his father, who had inspired Witkoff\u2019s name choice.<\/p>\n The banter continued as Chase Herro, a cofounder of the Trump family\u2019s crypto business, weighed in with feigned sympathy: \u201cIt\u2019s terrible that that\u2019s how you find that out\u2014in an interview.\u201d<\/p>\n Jokes aside, the Trump sons, Witkoff, Herro, and his business partner Zak Folkman occupy big shoes as leaders of the Trump family\u2019s crypto brain trust. Their job is to build out World Liberty Financial, which launched in October 2024, into a crypto behemoth\u2014despite a deluge<\/a> of apparent conflicts of interest.<\/p>\n As of now, World Liberty Financial has three main ventures: a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar called USD1, a cryptocurrency called WLFI, and a publicly traded company that holds WLFI. Those who purchase WLFI can help make future decisions about the development of World Liberty Financial products. The public company, meanwhile, was created by partnering with a onetime biotech firm, and exists primarily as a way for traditional investors who don\u2019t use crypto exchanges to gain exposure to WLFI by buying shares.<\/p>\n The whole enterprise is a hit-spinning mix of tokens and financial alchemy. It\u2019s also printing cash. World Liberty Financial announced in March that it had raised<\/a> $550 million through direct sales of the WLFI token, while its USD1 stablecoin has reached a market capitalization of $2.2 billion\u2014a pool of capital on which the Trump family business earns interest. Then there was the deal with the former biotech company, which resulted in investors raising another $1.5 billion<\/a> to purchase WLFI tokens, a price that valued the overall token supply at a reported $20 billion.<\/p>\n Eric and Donald Jr. relayed details of these ventures in the spacious 25th-floor boardroom overlooking Central Park. They have clearly become fluent in crypto, slinging around references to Bitcoin<\/a>, Ethereum<\/a>, and payment rails. More striking, though, was the sight of the polished Eric and Donald Jr. side-by-side with tattooed crypto natives. <\/p>\n Eric and Donald Jr., along with Witkoff, wore suits and blue ties. Then there was Herro, the crypto venture\u2019s cofounder, who sported a light beige T-shirt and olive jeans, with what appeared to be a Greek statue inked on his right bicep and plenty of other tattoos. Folkman, wearing a black long sleeve shirt and sleek sweatpants, was likewise tatted up with an ink butterfly gracing his left hand along with other marks. World Liberty Financial, it seems, favors two uniforms: business formal or crypto leisure.<\/p>\n The details of how the Trumps teamed up with a group of crypto veterans are still fuzzy, but the story begins on a golf course.\u00a0<\/p>\n About two years ago, in the summer of 2023, Herro, a longtime crypto entrepreneur who once described<\/a> himself as a \u201cdirtbag of the internet,\u201d scored an invite to the Shell Bay Club outside of Miami, a private golf club owned by the Witkoffs. Herro wouldn\u2019t say who invited him but described his host as \u201ca great young man\u201d and friend of Donald Jr.\u00a0<\/p>\n While Herro, clad in tattoos, was on the green, Zach Witkoff happened to be driving by. \u201cHe could tell I was a little, like, out of my realm,\u201d said Herro. \u201cAnd he\u2019s like, \u2018Listen, you come ride with me.\u2019 And literally, on the golf cart, we just started shooting the shit.\u201d<\/p>\n The chance meeting blossomed into business ties. The Witkoffs introduced Herro and his longtime business partner Zak Folkman, who once ran a company called Date Hotter Girls, to the Trumps. And then the two families teamed up with Herro and Folkman, whom the moderator of a September livestream described as \u201ctwo crypto punks\u201d while announcing<\/a> the venture.<\/p>\n Adam Gray\u2014Bloomberg\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n During the same livestream, Zach\u2019s father, Steve Witkoff, sought to reassure the audience, urging them not to judge this book by its cover.<\/p>\n \u201cThey look a little different than us. They dress a little different than us,\u201d he said. \u201cI met traders from all over the world, and these guys are as smart as any currency traders I\u2019ve ever met.\u201d<\/p>\n Any unease over the contrasting sartorial standards of Trump-world and the crypto punks has, however, disappeared amid a rush of flourishing new business ventures. The Trumps and Witkoff brag that their stablecoin, USD1, is the \u201cfastest-growing stablecoin ever.\u201d That may be true, though more than 90% of the stablecoin\u2019s market cap was the result of a mammoth deal with the world\u2019s largest crypto exchange, Binance. That deal entailed Binance receiving<\/a> a $2 billion investment from an Abu Dhabi venture firm, and taking the payment in USD1. Zach Witkoff announced the deal on May 1, and Binance has yet to convert the USD1, meaning World Liberty Financial continues to earn interest on the proceeds. <\/p>\n Now, the Trump family crypto venture, which numbers between 20 and 30 employees, has its sights on the launch of a crypto lending and borrowing protocol and an app for decentralized finance, or what those in crypto call DeFi. Folkman declined to say when those products would launch.<\/p>\n The rush of capital and Trump-branded crypto products has raised alarm bells among ethics experts, who argue that World Liberty Financial gives would-be seekers of presidential favor a direct line to his family\u2019s pocketbook. When asked previously about the ethical quagmires, Eric Trump dismissed them. \u201cI keep separation between the two,\u201d he said, referring to his business relationships and relationship with his father. \u201cBut I think he\u2019d be proud of what we were doing.\u201d<\/p>\n Zach Witkoff, Herro, and Folkman are also proud of their crypto company. On the back of Herro\u2019s neck is a tattoo of World Liberty Financial\u2019s logo, a geometric eagle. Folkman had a similar tattoo on his left forearm. And Witkoff admitted he, too, had the tattoo. Apparently, it stemmed from a night out on the town, according to Matt Morgan, an advisor to the Trump family crypto project who was also in the boardroom.\u00a0<\/p>\n When asked where his tattoo was, Witkoff was cagey. \u201cHe may or may not have a tramp stamp!\u201d wisecracked Folkman, referring to a tattoo just above one\u2019s backside.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n On the new Fortune Crypto Playbook<\/em> vodcast,<\/strong> Fortune<\/em>\u2019s senior crypto experts decode the biggest forces shaping crypto today. Watch or listen now<\/a><\/p>\n\u2018A little different than us\u2019<\/h2>\n
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