Moe Vela Rips Trump's The DeFiant Ones Crypto Platform: 'Actions Speak Louder Than Words'

The business world was shocked, somewhat, to hear that the Trump organization—the ones behind Truth Social (DJT)—was poised to take a step into the cryptocurrency market with its platform, dubbed The DeFiant Ones.

Former Biden Administration Senior Advisor and Unicoin Senior Advisor Moe Vela joined us for a question-and-answer segment on the matter, and here is what he had to say.

1. Tell us more about The DeFiant Ones. Give us a general summary of what the service is and how it differs from currently operating exchanges that are more established in the field.

Frankly, little is known about what they plan on doing with this proposed platform. At this point, it’s pure speculation as to what “digital real estate” will mean from a practical perspective or what this “digital bank” platform truly entails. What further clouds all of this is how it will maneuver in and around existing and future regulatory environments.

2. Will The DeFiant Ones be able to continue operating past November in the event of a Harris presidency?

If Trump Steaks and Trump University are any indication, this could very well be just another publicity stunt by the Trumps, and it might not even get off the ground, much less make it past the election.

3. What features would make The DeFiant Ones better able to survive in the field that aren’t already known? What would you suggest it add to better protect itself from its currently operating competitors?

The Trumps would need to de-politicize their proposed platform, in my opinion, in order to win any semblance of mass appeal. The mere fact that their brand and its tremendous past failures and bankruptcies affiliated with that brand would mean they should outsource the management of this new platform should it come to fruition.

4. You claim that Trump “cannot be trusted to lay the framework for a stable crypto future,” in large part due to previous opposition. What steps should he take to demonstrate that he can be trusted with such an effort?

Actions speak louder than words, and when Vice President Harris hired two crypto experts on her senior campaign team, it demonstrated exactly the type of actions that develop trust, credibility, and viability. Mr. Trump, so far, has done nothing more than express political bluster in support of cryptocurrency and continues to simply tell people what they want to hear. If I were advising him, I would suggest he practice what he preaches and spell out specific policies and regulatory platforms as it relates to cryptocurrency.

5. You claim that Trump’s “past opposition to cryptocurrencies” makes his current statements “…little more than pandering.” How is this different from Jamie Dimon’s heel-face turn on crypto, where he went from planning to fire any trader that handled Bitcoin (Bloomberg, September 2017) to actively embracing it at JPMorgan (CoinDesk, December 2023)?

Mr. Dimon is not running for President of the United States, nor does he have a history of reckless, irresponsible, and pandering statements. As a staunch supporter of the crypto community myself, I applaud and welcome anyone who wants to help us grow this sector while protecting investors from fraudulent and nefarious actors. Mr. Trump’s entire career, past and continuous pandering statements, and hateful and divisive remarks on almost every topic known to man make it very difficult to trust him or believe he is at all sincere in his comments on cryptocurrency.