PALM BEACH, Fla. — Attending World Liberty Financial’s forum at Mar-a-Lago felt more like an intimate gathering than a prestigious summit when the guest list included trillions in assets and the people who control the future of finance.
Hidden beneath the chandeliers and gold-painted trim, the guest list appeared to be a roster of industry veterans and rising disruptors. No name tag was needed. It seemed like everyone knew everyone, or at least knew someone who did.
World Freedom Forum stage. (coin desk)
The conversation ranged from the future of finance to ambitious visions of how finance can fix what’s broken in the past: tokenized assets, overhauling regulation, and reimagining capital markets. But just as easily, talk turned to the upcoming FIFA World Cup tournament and press-on nails, courtesy of a few unexpected names that probably didn’t need to be there, yet somehow made the whole thing feel even more surreal.
The event wasn’t just aimed at a U.S. audience. Participants came from many countries. Several participants flew directly from Consensus Hong Kong to Palm Beach last week to attend the World Freedom Forum. One participant said he flew in from ETH Denver on Wednesday morning, and several others said they would fly to the Colorado conference after the forum.
“Punitive Finance”
In any other context, this event would look like a typical crypto conference. Speakers with traditional finance backgrounds will explain how they are using blockchain or why they are discussing cryptocurrencies in dimly lit rooms.
However, there was something looming in the background. The conference, hosted by World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency company founded and partly owned by President Donald Trump’s family, was held at his Mar-a-Lago golf club and had several attendees connected to his business interests. Binance founder Zhao Changpeng was seen at an event in his first appearance in the United States since being pardoned by President Trump. Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon joked on stage that he attended because a client asked him to attend.
Goldman Sachs CEO David Soloman (CoinDesk)
Many of the panels themselves were of a high standard. World Liberty Financial co-founder Alex Witkoff asked U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody to explain her background to the audience or repeat Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.’s past grievances against the bank.
“It was coercive and maybe opportunistic, but we lived a life that opened our eyes to how corrupt the system was…The bank was (cancelling our accounts) for no reason other than my father was wearing a hat that said ‘Make America Great Again,'” Eric Trump claimed. “We realized how outdated finance was and how punitive finance was.”
Donald Trump Jr. speaking on stage. (coin desk)
During these sessions, several speakers made their case for the digital asset sector. Jenny Johnson, CEO of Franklin Templeton, explained why the US dollar remains the world’s reserve currency, saying the European Union is too uncoordinated for the euro to replace the dollar and other currencies are not suited for the moment.
“About 50% of trades today are done in dollars and another 30% in euros. (But) there is no single bond market in Europe. You can’t even coordinate around the euro… so it won’t be the next foreign exchange reserve,” she said.
The Chinese yuan and Indian rupee are candidates, but neither currency is likely to play that role because neither is a floating currency, he said.
“As long as people want a stablecoin backed by the least risky currency, that’s going to be the dollar,” she said.
Despite this, many of the panels only briefly focused on digital assets themselves. The audience reflected this, with crowds gathering and chatting outside the actual room during several panels.
Participants will socialize over lunch by the pool. (coin desk)
It wouldn’t be a Trump rally without the biggest real estate mogul in the room. And at that time, tokenization (putting assets on a blockchain) became a hot topic. Barry Sternlicht, a hotel billionaire whose Starwood Capital manages more than $125 million in assets, said his company is open to tokenizing real-world assets such as real estate, but that they are still unable to do so due to uncertain regularities.
Similarly, Kevin O’Leary told listeners that the sovereign wealth funds he speaks to regularly will stay away from cryptocurrencies because they fear the regulatory risks associated with cryptocurrencies in the United States.
glamor and celebrity
If you were to rank the day’s lineup by celebrity status, from O’Leary to Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon to FIFA president Gianni Infantino, the organizers undoubtedly saved the best for last, and perhaps the least relevant for last.
Nicki Minaj closed out the event as the last panelist, but the first panel had half the audience pulling out their phones to take pictures. Her presence may not make sense, especially in the context of finance and cryptocurrencies — when told by moderator Alex Brusewitz that people were coming together to discuss new innovations in finance, she responded, “I might like that” — but given her recent close relationship with President Donald Trump, it’s not at all surprising that she would support the family event.
Artist Nicki Minaj closed the conference by talking about clip-on nails. (coin desk)
The World Freedom Forum was more than just a conference, it was a room where you steered your destiny, not your sales pitch, and the asides were just as important as the main topic.
