The Daily: Trump-backed DeFi project claims 100,000 signups, Harris vows to support crypto legal framework for Black men and more

I hope you had a good weekend, folks. In today's Daily, Donald Trump-backed World Liberty Financial claims over 100,000 whitelist signups, Kamala Harris vows to support a crypto regulatory framework that gives protections to Black men, CoinShares says a political shift to Republicans drove last week's rebound in crypto fund flows and more.

Meanwhile, Venice co-founders Erik Voorhees and Teana Baker-Taylor tell The Block, "It doesn’t matter if AI scares you, it’s inevitable," in the latest episode of The Scoop podcast.

Let's get started.

Donald Trump-backed World Liberty Financial claims over 100,000 signups

World Liberty Financial, the DeFi project backed by Donald Trump and his sons, claims to have attracted over 100,000 whitelist signups ahead of its token launch.

• "This was all inspired by the ideals and the vision of Donald J. Trump," said Zak Folkman, one of the project's co-founders, along with Chase Herro, Steve and Zach Witkoff on an X Spaces live stream on Monday.
• Folkman confirmed that WLFI will be an ERC-20 token, and the sale will take place on the WLF website for those who've joined the whitelist.
• Some 63% of WLFI tokens will be sold to the public starting Tuesday, with 17% reserved for user rewards and 20% for team compensation.
• WLFI is only available to accredited U.S. investors, qualified UK investors and other investors outside those countries.
• The initial sale aims to raise $300 million by selling 20% of the token supply at a $1.5 billion valuation.
• Paxos co-founder Rich Teo also announced he had joined the project as stablecoin and payments lead during the live stream.
• World Liberty Financial plans to launch a DeFi lending platform similar to Aave on the Ethereum Layer 2 network Scroll.
• Donald Trump Jr. criticized the U.S. banking system as a "big Ponzi scheme" on the live stream, explaining what led him to support the protocol.
• However, critics like Rep. Wiley Nickel have previously argued that Trump's involvement in the project undermines serious bipartisan crypto policy efforts.

Kamala Harris vows to support crypto regulatory framework that protects Black men

Vice President Kamala Harris has unveiled a plan to support a cryptocurrency regulatory framework to protect Black men who invest in crypto as part of her "Opportunity Agenda for Black Men."

• "Vice President Harris appreciates the ways in which new technologies can broaden access to banking and financial services," her campaign team said in the plan.
• The proposal also includes forgivable loans for Black entrepreneurs looking to start a business, a health initiative and the legalization of recreational marijuana.
• Cleve Mesidor, founder of the Nat’l Policy Network WOC Blockchain, criticized the narrow focus on Black men and called for broader inclusion of diverse crypto leaders in the policy discussions.

CoinShares says shift to Republicans drove $407 million in weekly crypto fund inflows

Global crypto investment products saw $407 million in net inflows last week , driven by a political shift toward Republicans ahead of the U.S. election, according to CoinShares Head of Research James Butterfill.

• U.S.-based funds dominated last week's net inflows, adding $406 million—likely due to the current political nature of the flows, in Butterfill's view.
• "This trend is evident in the fact that stronger-than-expected economic data had little impact on stemming outflows, whereas the recent U.S. vice presidential debate and a subsequent shift in polling towards the Republicans, perceived as more supportive of digital assets, led to an immediate boost in inflows and prices," he said.
• Donald Trump leads Kamala Harris by around 55% to 45% odds to win the presidential election on Polymarket.
• The decentralized predictions platform also shows 78% odds for a Republican Senate, 56% for a Democrat House and a 38% chance of a Republican sweep compared to 17% for the Democrats.

Hyperliquid users to get HYPE token in upcoming airdrop, says new Hyper Foundation

The newly formed Hyper Foundation announced the upcoming launch of Hyperliquid's native HYPE token ahead of HyperEVM's mainnet, though the airdrop date has not yet been revealed.

• Hyperliquid is a decentralized perpetual swap platform that recently exceeded $1 billion in daily trading volume, potentially driven by a points reward campaign that will determine token airdrop allocations.
• Eligible users can choose to receive HYPE tokens and an optional Hypurr NFT as part of the genesis distribution to commemorate the launch.
• The HYPE token is essential for HyperBFT proof-of-stake consensus and future developments on the Hyperliquid roadmap, the foundation said.

Google weekly relative search volume for 'bitcoin' hits lowest level in a year

Google relative search volume for the term "bitcoin" has hit its lowest weekly level in a year , despite a 145% rise in the cryptocurrency's price over the same period.

• Other crypto-related search terms like "Ethereum," "NFTs" and "DeFi" are also at low levels, while interest in hot topics like "memecoins" are back on the rise.
• However, low search volume doesn't necessarily signal bearish price action, according to Bitget Research chief analyst Ryan Lee, as such periods have presented opportunities to build positions for market rallies historically.

In the next 24 hours

• U.S. FOMC members Mary Daly, Adriana Kugler and Raphael Bostic will speak at 11:30 a.m., 1:05 p.m. and 7 p.m., respectively on Tuesday.
• The Future Blockchain Summit continues in Dubai.

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