Tokenization Or Banking? Top Theories About Trump Family's 'DeFiant' Crypto Project

Since ex-president Donald Trump's two sons announced an upcoming "DeFi" project, cryptocurrency users have been making wild guesses about what the project could be, and some of them are much closer to what the Trump children are envisioning.

Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump announced last week that they were cooking up "something huge" for the crypto space. They haven't provided specific details about the project yet, but many crypto users immediately warned them not to release another Trump-themed memecoin.

So far, many are speculating that the project could be just another memecoin, but some theories have explored the various facets of decentralized finance and blockchain that could be related to the Trumps' plans.

A BlackRock alternative?

One X user said the project could be one that provides "alternatives to the monopoly of BlackRock" and several other traditional investment firms. BlackRock has been in the headlines since January after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Among the 11 U.S.-listed $BTC ETFs, BlackRock's IBIT is the most popular and holds the most number of Bitcoins. Notably, $IBIT is popular both among institutional investors and retailers.

The Trumps did not say anything about a crypto investment firm or anything similar.

A 'tokenization' project?

One user said he sensed "a huge tokenization project" in the works. The said user went on to explain that tokenization, wherein something of value is converted into a digital token that can be used for blockchain applications, "will happen" but stakeholders must ensure that its implementation is done "ethically."

Interestingly, Donald Trump Jr. said a few days after teasing the project that what he and Eric are working on "is sort of a larger type of platform." He reiterated that it's not a memecoin. On the other hand, he didn't specifically mention tokenization.

Along the lines of the future of banking?

One user said Trump Jr.'s latest hints were quite "interesting," noting that maybe the financial realm needs "a leader who will break" the supposed "chain" of skepticism around Bitcoin," one that will "revolutionize future banking."

Trump Jr. did say something about the project wanting to "take on a lot of the banking world." He said there was "a lot of inequality" in banking, but he did not go into further details.

Eric drops new hint

Amid all the emerging theories about what the Trumps are actually working on, Eric, who is president of the Trump Organization, said Wednesday in an interview with the New York Post that "it's digital real estate."

He went on to reveal that the project is "collateral anyone can get access to and do so instantly," adding that it will shake up banking and finance.

"With this technology they could have the ability to almost instantaneously be approved or denied from a lender based on math, not policy. Money could be in their account in minutes, not months," he said.

For one user, a banking-related project in the digital realm "makes sense," since the Trumps have been "debanked" in the past, so now they will build a platform where the debanked population can transact. The user may have referred to the late 2021 incident wherein Donald Jr.'s event in St. Charles was reportedly canceled after JPMorgan Chase's WePay ended a deal with a Missouri-based conservative group.

Details are still scant about the project, but the Trumps have created a Telegram channel called "The DeFiant Ones" where they said the official announcements on the project's progress will be made. As of early Friday, the channel has gained over 17,000 subscribers.