Crypto is not that different from politics. According to Rushi Manche, the founder of the Blockchain Company Movement, “Crypto is an attention game.”
It is so appropriate that Donald Trump – the master of all attention – is then at home and sells Memecoins. But it is not only Trump’s inner circle that has been able to take advantage of his crypto -ventures, which includes the $ Trump coin and world freedom Financial.
When a vocal crypto skeptic, the president has become the industry’s biggest “most important opinion leader” or COPD, in Blockchain Industry Parlance: A trader whose portfolio is closely monitored by other investors who decide what to buy and sell.
Trump’s steps to Crypto have created a new go-to-market-playbook for ambitious token foggers like Manche-blockchain founders who are aware that pumping the price of a token can be as simple as elbow to a sitting president Crypto portfolio.
The President’s primary vehicle for blockchain dealer is the World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a decentralized funding (Defi) Venture he announced with his sons during the summer. After taking on more than $ 400 million by selling a token, the company that has not yet has a product has built a portfolio containing millions of dollars in assets in other crypto projects. On Wednesday, it announced that it launched an official “strategic reserve” of crypto investments.
The trades have already raised serious concerns about conflicts of interest, insider trading and the very nature of how influence is geared in the digital asset space. Trump’s political opponents call for the investigation of his growing blockchain empire.
But Crypto founders like Manche see World Liberty’s Crypto Investments as something else: a one-time-in-a-generation marketing opportunity. “You need to have a product schedule that makes sense,” Manche said. “But you also need a strategy for your token.” And what better way to increase the price of your cryptocurrency than by publicly tying it to the leader of the free world?
Moving movement
22 year old Rushi Manche is ready to launch Movement L2, an Ethereum-based blockchain. Despite his youth, he has gained a reputation in the industry as a sharp operator, after securing over $ 38 million in venture financing immediately after college.
Prior to Donald Trump’s second period, Manche worked to create ties with his circle. On the threshold of the inauguration, he participated in Crypto Ball, an event that connects crypto industry leaders with political insiders. There he engaged with key figures such as Zak Folkman and Chase Herro, leaders of Trump’s World Liberty Financial.
On January 28, when news broke out that World Liberty Financial had acquired about $ 2 million in the movement’s moving tokens, Manche jumped.
Immediately he went to social media: “We are proud to be the first altcoin, the first modern blockchain platform and the first alternative [virtual machine] Under the new administration, “he wrote in an X -post.” Moving is made in America. “
Then, in media interviews all day, he described WLFI purchases as a positive sign of the course of the movement: “It’s a good sign that the president of the United States Defi program buys movement,” he told Coindesk. “It shows a good sign of faith and good solidarity with motion ecosystem.”
Rumors suddenly began to swirl on X that Elon Musk saw movement as a potential infrastructure partner for the Hans Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Manche distanced himself from the rumor and claimed he had only heard of it when the rest of the public did. But he did not deter the speculation either. “We can’t really talk much about it,” he told Coindesk. “Our papers have never hit the DOGE desktop,” but “we work with a number of government agencies and institutions.”
The moving price rose briefly by 20% within hours of the news.
World Liberty Financial Play
Manche is far from the only Crypto founder who recognizes the value of connecting with the Trump Blockchain brand.
Donald Trump announced World Liberty Financial in mid -October in the last days of his presidential campaign. The company says it builds a crypto loan platform that promotes US values, but it has not yet launched a product. However, within days of its formal message, it began selling a token, WLFI.
Read more: Inside Trump Crypto Project linked to a $ 2M defi hack
According to a disclaimer on the World Liberty Web site, Donald Trump has a majority share in the venture through his company, DT Marks LLC, and is entitled to about 75% of WLFI Token Sale proceeds. The token gives the holders a vote on the direction of any platform. Currently, it is impossible to trade and has limited sales to non-Americans and accredited US investors.
Because of these limitations, WLFI fought to meet its fundraising goals originally. What is the poenget of buying a cryptocurrency that you can’t sell for a profit? Many in the industry – including some of the president’s own supporters – criticized sales as a cash catch.
But Justin Sun, a Chinese-born crypto founder, was among the first to reveal how WLFI can still appeal to a very specific type of investor. On November 27, he bought $ 30 million in the incoming president’s WLFI tokens, making him the project’s largest single investor. Sun then lobbed praise to Trump and WLFI in a series of social media posts.
Today, Sun is perhaps best known for buying a banana that is taped into a wall for $ 6.2 million, but the US Securities and Exchange Commission – a department now under control of Donald Trump’s White House – has previously appealed to him fraud and market manipulation. The case is going on.
The President’s Crypto Company, meanwhile, has bought millions of dollars in the TRX – the native token of Sun’s Tron Blockchain – and WBTC, a Bitcoin -derivat with suspected ties to Sun. World Liberty also appointed Sun as an official advisor.
BLOCKWORKS reported on February 3rd that World Liberty Financial was shopping around an appointment: If a project buys at least $ 10 million value of WLFI -Tokens (with a 10%fee), WLFI will buy a similar amount of the project’s native token. Movement laboratories and Tron refused to enter into such agreements.
World Liberty’s investments are expected to accelerate the creation of a strategic reserve, but a World Liberty Financial lawyer Alex Golubitsky said he couldn’t comment on whether WLFI’s investments count as an official Trump approval.
However, the Trump family seems to be aware of its power to move markets. On February 3, shortly after the world’s Liberty financially redistributed a large proportion of its tokens to ether (ETH), the native token of Ethereum, twited Eric Trump, “In my opinion it’s a good time to add $ ETH .
He quickly edited the tweet and removed the line “You can thank me later”.
Pump’s art
Over the past several months, Rushi Manche made a unified effort to recover himself in the Trump world. He participated in Crypto Ball, an industry event on the threshold of the inauguration that mixed figures from the administration with crypto -running leaders. He has also made frequent trips to Washington, DC, where he has lobbyed on behalf of the crypto industry with people like Zak Folkman and Chase Herro – the leaders of the World Liberty Financial.
On February 10, when WLFI made another round of moving purchases, Manche immediately ran back the same playbook he had used a week earlier.
Within minutes, journalists received a press release from Movement’s PR -Team: Move was now “one of the most significant holdings in Trump’s portfolio,” reads the release, and Manche was “available to discuss what Trump’s investment means for the project, its role in promoting blockchain and the wider implications of the crypto industry.
Manche again went to social media and repositioned a photo of himself and Donald Trump Jr. along with a screen shot of World Liberty’s Move purchase. The photo was taken at an event for Ondo, another project in the World Liberty Crypto portfolio.
“[P]Olitik is the most important [go-to-market] Games for crypto companies today, “Manche said in a long X -post a few minutes later.”[M]Y Sense is that the next five years will be a space race for crypto hegemonic – the teams that can lock the relationship with federal agencies, institutional capital and world leaders are those who survive. “
The post sentenced heated debate. Some considered Manche’s government -centered attitude as a sharp business move. Others condemned it as a betrayal of Crypto’s anti-establishment ethos-a short-sighted attempt to exploit Trump’s fame to pump a token in front of a larger product launch.
Manche is unclear from backlash. He compares Movement Labs’ approach to Carddano and Ripple projects that, despite powerful control, have maintained strong market positions because of their deep understanding of how to earn and keep your attention.
“Of course, you have anons on Twitter calling them scam,” he said. “But see who wins.”
He pointed to Ripple’s “XRP army”, whose innerness has kept the project relevant despite technical critics and regulatory control. Ripple’s XRP token has topped price diagrams for almost a decade, Manche said by building “the biggest cult in the world.”
Similarly, he praised Charles Hoskinson, the free -speaking founder of Cardano, for “mastering the attention” and getting Cardanos ada token in the hands of so many investors. Hoskinson has “contributed more to space” than the same Ethereum developers who reject Cardano as “a broken blockchain,” Manche said.
“If you ask a taxi driver what they buy, they tell you XRP, Ada – not even Eth,” Manche said. “That’s what the right people are talking about outside our little bubble.”
As for movement, Manche’s strategy is clear: Adapted Trump and grabs attention, to better or worse. With his words: “Love me, hate me, just don’t forget me.”
