Author: Nancy, PANews
Not long ago, the only road leading to Mar-a-Lago was officially renamed "Donald J. Trump Boulevard." This road stretches all the way from Palm Beach International Airport. The huge golden signboard has not only become a new local visual landmark, but also a concrete manifestation of Trump's personal influence.
In Palm Beach, Florida, Mar-a-Lago is no longer just Trump’s private club. It is not only a power hub for American political and business elites, but also a cash cow for the Trump family that earns tens of millions of dollars a year.
And this road called "Trump Avenue" has already been crowded with encrypted visitors.
WLFI organizes the game, traditional elites sit at the encryption main table
At the end of January, WLFI announced that it would hold the first World Liberty Forum at Mar-a-Lago on February 18 (the second day of the Lunar New Year). The number of seats in the forum will be limited to about 300 people.
This is not an encryption conference open to the public, but a closed-door elite gathering that has been screened. Admission will depend on the "weight" of the participants. Officials divide the invitees into three categories: participants, speakers and media. All applicants are required to submit their industry, position, contact information and X (former Twitter) account, which will be reviewed by the organizer. The quota is non-transferable.
Judging from the announced speech lineup, the vast majority come from important circles on Wall Street and American politics.
At the financial institution level, confirmed attendees include Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO David Solomon, Nasdaq Chairman and CEO Adena Friedman, New York Stock Exchange President Lynn Martin, etc., covering key nodes in the financial system;
In terms of asset management and private equity, including Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson, Third Point founder Daniel Loeb, Altimeter Capital founder Brad Gerstner, and Avenue Capital co-founder Marc Lasry, they are long-term active traditional capital forces;
At the regulatory and policy level, current Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Michael Selig, U.S. Senators Bernie Moreno and Ashley Moody, and White House Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg are also on the official list;
Other well-known figures such as FIFA President Gianni Infantino, Turing Award winner Yoshua Bengio and Canton Network co-founder Yuval Rooz and other cross-field figures have also been included in the invitation list.
As the initiator, Trump’s two sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. and many core members of WLFI will participate in the entire process.
Compared with previous encryption events held at Mar-a-Lago, which were dominated by project parties, practitioners and whales, this time, traditional elites sat at the main encryption table.
This change may have an important relationship with WLFI’s continued strategic adjustments in recent months.
From WLFI's promotion of compliance actions such as the national trust bank license, to promoting the online plan of the lending platform World Liberty Markets, and preparing the "Digital Dollar Portal" WLFI App, to continuing to promote the real use cases and market size of the stable currency USD1, WLFI is trying to act as a serious DeFi player to strengthen its infrastructure potential in the trend of TradFi (traditional finance) and encryption integration.
It is worth noting that WLFI has recently opened a special channel to WLFI contributors. Applicants need to submit their positions and contributions in WLFI or stablecoin USD1, and the official will conduct qualification review and screening.
Different from the previous model of simply exchanging real money for entry qualifications, this time it prefers a hybrid system of "contribution + review". In part, this provides community members with access to Trump family meetings. At present, many users have taken the initiative to post their contribution posts in an attempt to gain admission.
Testing waters, forming alliances and attracting money, the Trump family’s encryption base
Prior to this, the "Winter White House", which covers an area of about 80,000 square meters, has long become a secret meeting room for the Trump family and crypto leaders.
As early as 2023, Trump invited holders of the NFTs he issued to meet with him. This seemingly fan gathering was regarded by many observers as a turning point. It was the first time that Trump publicly discussed and promoted crypto investments to a clear group of supporters.
In May 2024, Trump held an encryption-themed event at Mar-a-Lago, and some encryption industry supporters promised to provide financial support for his campaign. Subsequently, his campaign team began officially accepting cryptocurrency donations, and crypto ceased to be just a symbolic political gesture and gradually became an actual fundraising tool.
A month later, Trump received a number of Bitcoin mining company executives at Mar-a-Lago and publicly stated that if he returns to the White House, he will provide policy support to the miners. According to Bloomberg at the time, Bitcoin miners were an important support force in the Trump campaign.
A few months later, on election night, many crypto leaders such as Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick, Bitcoin Magazine CEO David Bailey, and Kraken Chief Legal Officer Marco Santori gathered at Mar-a-Lago to celebrate Trump’s victory, which was also seen as the true starting point of the crypto-friendly era.
In January 2025, executives from Crypto.com, Ripple, Coinbase and other leading encryption companies went to Mar-a-Lago to exchange views with the Trump team on policy direction and regulatory framework, and provided large donations to his political organizations.
In May 2025, Trump held a private dinner at Mar-a-Lago for the top 220 holders of the Meme coin $TRUMP. Attendees included Tron founder Justin Sun, former NBA player Lamar Odom, etc. The event attracted a total of approximately US$148 million in funds.
From this point of view, from the early gatherings of supporters, to campaign funds, to policy statements and regulatory communication, Mar-a-Lago has witnessed the entire process of the encryption industry from rough to temple.
