President-elect Donald Trump’s recently launched cryptocurrency venture has partnered with a digital platform that authorities say has been used by Iran-backed militant groups, raising ethical concerns among government specialists.
World Liberty Financial Inc., established by billionaire Steve Witkoff’s family shortly before November’s election with Trump as a financial beneficiary, has accepted a $30 million investment from Tron, a crypto platform that Israeli authorities say has been increasingly used for militant group transfers. Tron’s Chinese-born founder Justin Sun will join as an advisor to the Trump-Witkoff venture, according to announcements on social media platform X.
The partnership has alarmed six U.S. government ethics specialists consulted by Reuters, particularly given Tron’s emergence as a preferred channel for crypto transfers linked to designated terror organizations. The British Virgin Islands-registered platform has surpassed Bitcoin in such transactions, according to seven financial crime and cryptocurrency investigations experts interviewed in 2023.
Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing has frozen 186 Tron wallets since July 2021, citing connections to “designated terrorist organization[s]” or “severe terror crime[s].” These include 84 wallets linked to Hamas or its allies, 39 to Hezbollah, and 63 to unspecified terrorist groups or money changers. The most recent seizure was announced March 28.
Hamas, whose October 2023 attack killed 1,200 Israelis and triggered the ongoing Gaza war, has been specifically identified in Israeli crypto seizures involving Tron since 2021.
