From the New York Times:
Mr. Trump has promoted the venture since August, but its exact purpose remains unclear. No official launch date has been set. On the livestream, he did not address the project directly, leaving the details to the two entrepreneurs, Chase Herro and Zachary Folkman. Mr. Herro has described himself as “the dirtbag of the internet,” while Mr. Folkman used to teach classes on how to seduce women.
Trump only gets the best people1. And knowing the world of cryptocurrency2, these two gentlemen might actually be the best people.
Cryptocurrency is one of those really interesting technical ideas that has become synonymous with grift and theft, used for payment in criminal enterprise despite being only pseudo-anonymous, and fails to function as a reliable “store of value” making its hope of becoming a replacement for fiat currency questionable at best. It’s also a huge waste of energy. That doesn’t mean its not an interesting technical achievement! However, not everything which is interesting is also useful.
“Crypto is one of those things we have to do,” Mr. Trump said on X. “Whether we like it or not, I have to do it.”
I can feel the radiating confidence from here.
Per The Washington Post in 2016: “I’m going to surround myself only with the best and most serious people,” he told our Robert Costa in a phone interview at the time. “We want top of the line professionals.” ↩︎