Trump-backed World Liberty Financial launches whitelist process, US retail investors left out

The whitelisting process is open for accredited US investors and all non-US persons, while US-based retail investors cannot qualify due to regulatory limitations.

Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.

Former President Donald Trump announced the launch of World Liberty Financial’s (WLFI) whitelist process on Sept. 30 and reiterated his plan to “make America great again” by leveraging crypto.

To qualify for WLFI’s early access, users must undergo a know-your-customer (KYC) process to get on the whitelist. The platform’s website states that there are no plans to launch a native token, and the whitelist does not mean there will be a token offer in any jurisdiction.

However, it also clarified that “if and when” a token is launched, it will be available to users who have completed the KYC process.

The whitelisting process is open for accredited US investors and any non-US persons. US-based retail investors will not be able to participate in the process for now due to the regulatory landscape in the country.

The WLFI team attributed the limitation to “outdated policies and regulations in the US” and said it is working on overturning it.

The KYC process consists of informing a wallet, sending a scan of a government-issued identification document, and a liveness check in a camera. Additionally, US users are also required to provide proof that they are accredited investors.

WLFI did not disclose how long it would take to process the whitelist applications.

According to DEX Screener, three fake versions of the WLFI token have been created in the hours since the whitelist was announced.

Leveraging US-pegged stablecoins

WLFI was created by Donald Trump’s sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., with the former US president supporting their venture in DeFi.

In a series of posts on Sept. 4, WLFI said it is collaborating with leading money market protocol Aave and clarified that its primary goal is to ensure the US dollar maintains its dominance in the global financial system via stablecoins.

Recently, WLFI has been on a spree of announcements regarding its advisors. The two latest additions to the team are Matthew Morgan, CEO of blockchain gaming platform Mixie AI, and Ryan Fang, founder of Tomo Wallet and co-founder of blockchain services provider Ankr.

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