Pro-Trump bitcoiners in disbelief as candidate touts future with crypto

The Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump left many of his Bitcoin-supporting followers in disbelief after promoting his family's project that "embraces the future with crypto."

For those not following the bitcoin (BTC) space closely, bitcoiners tend to separate BTC from other crypto asset projects, often referred to as "crypto," noting that these are mostly centralized, venture-capital-backed projects with unnecessary, money-grab tokens.

That said, Trump, who won endorsement and financial backing from some of the top voices in the bitcoin space this year, posted a video on X, calling everyone to join him for his live State of Crypto address on Monday during the launch of his family crypto project, World Liberty Financial (WLF). While details are scarce, this looks like a new DeFi platform offering yield opportunities for its investors.

According to Trump, WLF "embraces the future with crypto and leaves the slow and outdated big banks behind."

"Congrats to Trump's 'bitcoin advisors' for getting him committed to a shitcoin airdrop," reacted Francis Pouliot, CEO of the Canadian BTC-only platform Bull Bitcoin.

Meanwhile, another popular bitcoin supporter, commercial litigator Joe Carlasare, said that Trump launching "a scamcoin is just a blatant money grab."

"For true bitcoiners, the goal isn’t to accumulate the most money. The goal is a form of money that benefits the most of us. Hopefully, he realizes that someday," he posted on X.

Even some Ethereum (ETH) supporters reacted negatively, saying that "taking the risk of launching this dumpster fire before the election tells you everything you need to know about Trump."

"If Trump will gamble the presidency for a quick buck, what won’t he sell out?" asked venture capitalist Adam Cochran.

On a more positive note, some stress the fact that Trump criticized the slow and outdated banking system, which could be fixed with the help of the crypto asset industry.

Meanwhile, David Bailey, founder and CEO of BTC Inc., the publisher of Bitcoin Magazine and organizer of the largest bitcoin conference, who has been open about his support for Trump and advising him, quipped, "All roads lead to bitcoin (eventually)."