An illustration of Donald Trump holding bitcoin is displayed at a cryptocurrency store
in Hong Kong after bitcoin's value reached $100,000
Several key staff in President-elect Donald Trump’s new cryptocurrency venture are
in Abu Dhabi for the largest bitcoin gathering in the Gulf region, Bitcoin Mena 2024.
Speakers include Trump’s son Eric and billionaire Steve Witkoff, the new White
House envoy for the Middle East and co-founder of World Liberty Financial (WLF), a
crypto platform launched in September that Donald Trump and his family helped
form.
Eric Trump will deliver keynote address at the conference, which is projected to draw
more than 6,000 people.
Witkoff will also speak separately to a more exclusive crowd, which requires a $9,999
“whale” pass, a nickname for major players who have potential to move a market.
The president-elect is WLF’s chief crypto advocate, and sons Eric, Don Jr and Barron
are ambassadors, according to its website. Company filings show Donald Trump is
entitled to 22.5 billion WLF tokens and a share of its revenues.
“The bitcoin conference carries a lot of significance for crypto as it’s one of the
longest-running conferences focused on bringing our industry together,” said Marshall
Beard, chief operating officer of Gemini, the crypto exchange founded by Trump
backers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.
“It’s been incredible to see the rise of bitcoin alongside the growth of the conference
… and crypto became a major campaign issue in this year’s presidential election.”
Other speakers also have close ties to WLF, including Justin Sun, the 32-year-old
Chinese founder of blockchain platform Tron.
Three weeks after Trump won the US election, Sun posted on X that he bought $30
million worth of WLF tokens, making him the venture’s largest investor. Sun was
charged with crypto-related fraud and securities violations under the Biden
administration.
The Gulf gathering is occurring at an inflection point for the industry as Trump, once
a crypto sceptic, has vowed he will be the “crypto president” and make America the
new “crypto capital of the planet”.
Trump also named a White House czar for artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies,
former PayPal executive David Sacks, a close friend of Trump adviser and donor Elon
Musk.
Musk spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to help elect Trump, records show.
Other technology and digital asset veterans also gave millions to candidates friendly
to the industry, according to analytics firm Breadcrumbs.
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who served a four-month US prison sentence this
year for crypto-tied money-laundering law violations, will also hold a “whale” session
at the conference.
Trump, his family members, other speakers and their companies did not respond to
requests by Reuters for comment.
