Former President Donald Trump appeared to promote an “official” cryptocurrency project using his name in a Truth Social post on Thursday.
“For too long, the average American has been squeezed by the big banks and financial elites. It’s time we take a stand — together. #BeDefiant,” the post read. The Republican presidential nominee also included a link to a Telegram channel for his official “DeFi” project.
“DeFi” stands for decentralized finance and refers to financial activities on a blockchain. It includes cryptocurrency trading and transferring funds outside the purview of banking institutions.
Trump’s post about the project comes on the heels of a series of actions he’s taken to align himself with the cryptocurrency community, which is highly active online and tight-knit.
After referring to cryptocurrency as a “scam against the dollar” in 2021, Trump praised it this summer while speaking at a bitcoin conference as corporations within the crypto sector have dramatically increased their political donations. A Public Citizen report found that the crypto industry has contributed $119 million this year trying to influence federal elections. That figure represents nearly half of all corporate contributions made this year. Trump has made investments in the sector, and now owns more than $1 million in cryptocurrency. He also dabbled in crypto with an NFT project in which people could buy digital, blockchain-linked cartoon drawings of him.
Trump’s embrace of crypto has also coincided with endorsements from several well-known venture capitalists and technologists, most notably Elon Musk.
Trump’s son Eric previously teased a “big announcement” around cryptocurrency and DeFi in a post on X on Aug. 6. The Telegram channel Trump linked to was created the same day and it quickly started gaining subscribers on Thursday, with almost 30,000 an hour after Trump posted about it.
Before Trump’s Truth Social post, the Telegram group ran a giveaway for Telegram Premium subscriptions and welcomed subscribers to “the only official Telegram channel for the Trump DeFi project!”
Telegram, a Dubai-based chat app, has been known to host extremist and pro-Trump content outside the bounds of other social media platforms’ guidelines. After Jan. 6, 2021, the platform banned some extremist groups.
While cryptocurrency has risen sharply in popularity in recent years, it’s also been an attractive tool and target for scammers and hackers.
“Stay vigilant and do not fall for impersonations or scams — our team will never DM you first,” the channel wrote in the announcement.
The Trump campaign didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
