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The Trump Family’s Crypto Empire Is Expanding—Fast

The Trump Family’s Crypto Empire Is Expanding—Fast

The Trump family’s crypto empire is making another major move on Wall Street.

World Liberty Financial, the crypto firm founded by the Trump family last September, has struck a massive deal that will see a publicly traded fintech company, ALT5 Sigma, purchase up to $1.5 billion of the family’s proprietary cryptocurrency, $WLFI.

The deal is a landmark event that further intertwines the Trump family’s private business ventures with President Donald Trump’s increasingly pro-crypto government policies, a move made amidst an continuing conversation about the ethics or legality of such crossover.

According to filings with the Security and Exchange Commission, ALT5 Sigma plans to sell $1.5 billion of its own shares and use the proceeds to buy the $WLFI token, which it will then hold on its corporate balance sheet. The deal also installs key Trump allies on ALT5’s board: Eric Trump will become a board member, and Zach Witkoff, a World Liberty co-founder and son of a presidential advisor, will become the new chairman.

Witkoff celebrated the move on X, calling it “Another historic milestone for @worldlibertyfi with @ALT5_Sigma.”

Eric Trump was equally enthusiastic: “I am excited to join the Board of ALT5 Sigma and help lead the way in revolutionizing the digital asset space! @DonaldJTrumpJr and I are deeply committed to the success of this company and its innovative approach.”

The Trend: Corporate Crypto Treasuries

This deal is a new twist on a growing trend in the crypto world: the corporate treasury strategy. A crypto treasury is when a company decides to hold cryptocurrency instead of dollars, euros, or other traditional assets. For example, if Apple decided to keep billions in Bitcoin rather than cash in its corporate reserves, that would be a Bitcoin treasury strategy.

This idea has grown into a broader vision called DeFi (decentralized finance), where companies raise money, pay investors, and track assets entirely on blockchains, without the big banks. These assets can be “programmable” (rules are built into the code), instantly traceable, and theoretically easier to trade.

The pioneer of this strategy is MicroStrategy (recently renamed “Strategy”), which turned itself from a software company into a massive Bitcoin holding vehicle. While some hail it as genius, others, like famed short-seller Jim Chanos, call it a risky stunt.

The ALT5 Sigma deal takes the treasury strategy a step further. Instead of buying a decentralized, globally recognized asset like Bitcoin, the company is using its funds to buy a new, proprietary token controlled by the First Family.

An Unprecedented Conflict of Interest?

The Trump administration has been aggressively pushing pro-crypto policies. With legislation like the “Genius Act” providing regulatory clarity and an executive order paving the way for crypto in 401(k) retirement plans, the U.S. has swung from cautious to actively championing digital assets.

This has led critics to raise serious concerns about an unprecedented conflict of interest.

The president is enacting regulations that directly create a more favorable and lucrative market for his own family’s financial products. Trump himself earned $57.4 million last year from his ownership of tokens tied to World Liberty Financial, according to his June 2025 ethics disclosure.

The family’s crypto empire also includes the $TRUMP meme coin, which, while not officially affiliated, has generated hundreds of millions of dollars in value tied directly to his brand. For now, the family is pushing forward with its plans to take its own token mainstream.

“The WLFI community has voted overwhelmingly to make the token tradable, and the WLF team is already hard at work making this happen,” Eric Trump explained. “Once tradable, we expect that the WLFI token will soon become available on all major centralized exchanges as well as decentralized exchanges.”

Our Take

Crypto is undeniably used by some for criminal activity. But the Trump administration’s warm embrace of digital assets, combined with family-linked ventures like World Liberty Financial, has opened the floodgates for Wall Street and corporate America to pile in. The question is whether this marriage of politics, policy and profit is legal or will be sustainable, or if it’s the setup for one of the most dramatic busts in financial history.



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#Trump #Familys #Crypto #Empire #ExpandingFast


The new Star Wars animated series Maul: Shadow Lord is doing some very cool things with lightsabers—and not just spinning them around with reckless abandon because we’ve got Maul himself and a couple of Inquisitors who all love to do exactly that with their weapons. They look almost unlike any time we’ve seen the weapons in Lucasfilm’s past output: blades that flicker and snarl like their wielders do, living flames that carve paths of incandescent energy across the screen instead of that typically clean, minimalistic energy we see from them.

It makes Shadow Lord look even more visually impressive than it already is, and of course, the idea of lightsabers as gouts of flaming plasma is also naturally very befitting everyone’s favorite slightly pathetic but trying-his-best edgelord in a character like Maul. But it turns out Shadow Lord‘s lightsabers—Maul’s specifically—are going the extra edgelord mile. Because there’s screaming in the sound mix.

Not just any screaming either, but Sam Witwer’s own howls.

The delightfully silly factoid was revealed by the supervising sound editor for the show, David W. Collins, in a new featurette about the process of creating Shadow Lord, which also shows off Witwer performing some of his own moves for animation reference. While Lucasfilm creatives were quick to note that the show does not use mocap for its animation, and the footage was strictly as a reference point, there’s still something very funny about Witwer even giving himself some Maul tattooing makeup for the footage, to boot.

It’s long been clear that Witwer has put a lot of time and thought into his approach to Maul’s animated legacy over the past decade and a half, but now at least he’s put his vocals into it in a very different manner for Shadow Lord.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

#Mauls #Lightsabers #Shadow #Lord #Powered #Sam #Witwers #ScreamsMaul: Shadow Lord,sam witwer,Star Wars">Maul’s Lightsabers in ‘Shadow Lord’ Are Powered by Sam Witwer’s Screams
                The new Star Wars animated series Maul: Shadow Lord is doing some very cool things with lightsabers—and not just spinning them around with reckless abandon because we’ve got Maul himself and a couple of Inquisitors who all love to do exactly that with their weapons. They look almost unlike any time we’ve seen the weapons in Lucasfilm’s past output: blades that flicker and snarl like their wielders do, living flames that carve paths of incandescent energy across the screen instead of that typically clean, minimalistic energy we see from them. It makes Shadow Lord look even more visually impressive than it already is, and of course, the idea of lightsabers as gouts of flaming plasma is also naturally very befitting everyone’s favorite slightly pathetic but trying-his-best edgelord in a character like Maul. But it turns out Shadow Lord‘s lightsabers—Maul’s specifically—are going the extra edgelord mile. Because there’s screaming in the sound mix.

 Not just any screaming either, but Sam Witwer’s own howls.  The delightfully silly factoid was revealed by the supervising sound editor for the show, David W. Collins, in a new featurette about the process of creating Shadow Lord, which also shows off Witwer performing some of his own moves for animation reference. While Lucasfilm creatives were quick to note that the show does not use mocap for its animation, and the footage was strictly as a reference point, there’s still something very funny about Witwer even giving himself some Maul tattooing makeup for the footage, to boot. It’s long been clear that Witwer has put a lot of time and thought into his approach to Maul’s animated legacy over the past decade and a half, but now at least he’s put his vocals into it in a very different manner for Shadow Lord.  Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.      #Mauls #Lightsabers #Shadow #Lord #Powered #Sam #Witwers #ScreamsMaul: Shadow Lord,sam witwer,Star Wars

Maul: Shadow Lord is doing some very cool things with lightsabers—and not just spinning them around with reckless abandon because we’ve got Maul himself and a couple of Inquisitors who all love to do exactly that with their weapons. They look almost unlike any time we’ve seen the weapons in Lucasfilm’s past output: blades that flicker and snarl like their wielders do, living flames that carve paths of incandescent energy across the screen instead of that typically clean, minimalistic energy we see from them.

It makes Shadow Lord look even more visually impressive than it already is, and of course, the idea of lightsabers as gouts of flaming plasma is also naturally very befitting everyone’s favorite slightly pathetic but trying-his-best edgelord in a character like Maul. But it turns out Shadow Lord‘s lightsabers—Maul’s specifically—are going the extra edgelord mile. Because there’s screaming in the sound mix.

Not just any screaming either, but Sam Witwer’s own howls.

The delightfully silly factoid was revealed by the supervising sound editor for the show, David W. Collins, in a new featurette about the process of creating Shadow Lord, which also shows off Witwer performing some of his own moves for animation reference. While Lucasfilm creatives were quick to note that the show does not use mocap for its animation, and the footage was strictly as a reference point, there’s still something very funny about Witwer even giving himself some Maul tattooing makeup for the footage, to boot.

It’s long been clear that Witwer has put a lot of time and thought into his approach to Maul’s animated legacy over the past decade and a half, but now at least he’s put his vocals into it in a very different manner for Shadow Lord.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

#Mauls #Lightsabers #Shadow #Lord #Powered #Sam #Witwers #ScreamsMaul: Shadow Lord,sam witwer,Star Wars">Maul’s Lightsabers in ‘Shadow Lord’ Are Powered by Sam Witwer’s ScreamsMaul’s Lightsabers in ‘Shadow Lord’ Are Powered by Sam Witwer’s Screams
                The new Star Wars animated series Maul: Shadow Lord is doing some very cool things with lightsabers—and not just spinning them around with reckless abandon because we’ve got Maul himself and a couple of Inquisitors who all love to do exactly that with their weapons. They look almost unlike any time we’ve seen the weapons in Lucasfilm’s past output: blades that flicker and snarl like their wielders do, living flames that carve paths of incandescent energy across the screen instead of that typically clean, minimalistic energy we see from them. It makes Shadow Lord look even more visually impressive than it already is, and of course, the idea of lightsabers as gouts of flaming plasma is also naturally very befitting everyone’s favorite slightly pathetic but trying-his-best edgelord in a character like Maul. But it turns out Shadow Lord‘s lightsabers—Maul’s specifically—are going the extra edgelord mile. Because there’s screaming in the sound mix.

 Not just any screaming either, but Sam Witwer’s own howls.  The delightfully silly factoid was revealed by the supervising sound editor for the show, David W. Collins, in a new featurette about the process of creating Shadow Lord, which also shows off Witwer performing some of his own moves for animation reference. While Lucasfilm creatives were quick to note that the show does not use mocap for its animation, and the footage was strictly as a reference point, there’s still something very funny about Witwer even giving himself some Maul tattooing makeup for the footage, to boot. It’s long been clear that Witwer has put a lot of time and thought into his approach to Maul’s animated legacy over the past decade and a half, but now at least he’s put his vocals into it in a very different manner for Shadow Lord.  Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.      #Mauls #Lightsabers #Shadow #Lord #Powered #Sam #Witwers #ScreamsMaul: Shadow Lord,sam witwer,Star Wars

The new Star Wars animated series Maul: Shadow Lord is doing some very cool things with lightsabers—and not just spinning them around with reckless abandon because we’ve got Maul himself and a couple of Inquisitors who all love to do exactly that with their weapons. They look almost unlike any time we’ve seen the weapons in Lucasfilm’s past output: blades that flicker and snarl like their wielders do, living flames that carve paths of incandescent energy across the screen instead of that typically clean, minimalistic energy we see from them.

It makes Shadow Lord look even more visually impressive than it already is, and of course, the idea of lightsabers as gouts of flaming plasma is also naturally very befitting everyone’s favorite slightly pathetic but trying-his-best edgelord in a character like Maul. But it turns out Shadow Lord‘s lightsabers—Maul’s specifically—are going the extra edgelord mile. Because there’s screaming in the sound mix.

Not just any screaming either, but Sam Witwer’s own howls.

The delightfully silly factoid was revealed by the supervising sound editor for the show, David W. Collins, in a new featurette about the process of creating Shadow Lord, which also shows off Witwer performing some of his own moves for animation reference. While Lucasfilm creatives were quick to note that the show does not use mocap for its animation, and the footage was strictly as a reference point, there’s still something very funny about Witwer even giving himself some Maul tattooing makeup for the footage, to boot.

It’s long been clear that Witwer has put a lot of time and thought into his approach to Maul’s animated legacy over the past decade and a half, but now at least he’s put his vocals into it in a very different manner for Shadow Lord.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

#Mauls #Lightsabers #Shadow #Lord #Powered #Sam #Witwers #ScreamsMaul: Shadow Lord,sam witwer,Star Wars

Medical experts I spoke with balked at the idea of uploading their own health data for an AI model, like Muse Spark, to analyze. “These chatbots now allow you to connect your own biometric data, put in your own lab information, and honestly, that makes me pretty nervous,” says Gauri Agarwal, a doctor of medicine and associate professor at the University of Miami. “I certainly wouldn’t connect my own health information to a service that I’m not fully able to control, understand where that information is being stored, or how it’s being utilized.” She recommends people stick to lower-stakes, more general interactions, like prepping questions for your doctor.

It can be tempting to rely on AI-assisted help for interpreting health, especially with the skyrocketing cost of medical treatments and overall inaccessibility of regular doctor visits for some people navigating the US health care system.

“You will be forgiven for going online and delegating what used to be a powerful, important personal relationship between a doctor and a patient—to a robot,” says Kenneth Goodman, founder of the University of Miami’s Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy. “I think running into that without due diligence is dangerous.” Before he considers using any of these tools, Goodman wants to see research proving that they are beneficial for your health, not just better at answering health questions than some competitor chatbot.

When I asked Meta AI for more information about how it would interpret my health information, if I provided any, the chatbot said it was not trying to replace my physician; the outputs were for educational purposes. “Think of me as a med school professor, not your doctor,” said Meta AI. That’s still a lofty claim.

The bot said the best way to get an interpretation of my health data was just to “dump the raw data,” like clinical lab reports, and tell it what my goals were. Meta AI would then create charts, summarize the info, and give a “referral nudge if needed.” In other chats I conducted with Meta AI, the bot prompted me to strip personal details before uploading lab results, but these caveats were not present in every test conversation.

“People have long used the internet to ask health questions,” a Meta spokesperson tells WIRED. “With Meta AI and Muse Spark, people are in control of what information to share, and our terms make clear they should only share what they’re comfortable with.”

In addition to privacy concerns, experts I spoke with expressed trepidation about how these AI tools can be sycophantic and influenced by how users ask questions. “A model might take the information that’s provided more as a given without questioning the assumptions that the patient inherently made when asking the question,” says Agrawal.

When I asked how to lose weight and nudged the bot towards extreme answers, Meta AI helped in ways that could be catastrophic for someone with anorexia. As I asked about the benefits of intermittent fasting, I told Meta AI that I wanted to fast five days every week. Despite flagging that this was not for most people and putting me at risk for eating disorders, Meta AI crafted a meal plan for me where I would only eat around 500 calories most days, which would leave me malnourished.

#Metas #Asked #Raw #Health #Dataand #Gave #Terrible #Advicehealth,artificial intelligence,health care,machine learning,chatbots,meta,personalized medicine">Meta’s New AI Asked for My Raw Health Data—and Gave Me Terrible AdviceMedical experts I spoke with balked at the idea of uploading their own health data for an AI model, like Muse Spark, to analyze. “These chatbots now allow you to connect your own biometric data, put in your own lab information, and honestly, that makes me pretty nervous,” says Gauri Agarwal, a doctor of medicine and associate professor at the University of Miami. “I certainly wouldn’t connect my own health information to a service that I’m not fully able to control, understand where that information is being stored, or how it’s being utilized.” She recommends people stick to lower-stakes, more general interactions, like prepping questions for your doctor.It can be tempting to rely on AI-assisted help for interpreting health, especially with the skyrocketing cost of medical treatments and overall inaccessibility of regular doctor visits for some people navigating the US health care system.“You will be forgiven for going online and delegating what used to be a powerful, important personal relationship between a doctor and a patient—to a robot,” says Kenneth Goodman, founder of the University of Miami’s Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy. “I think running into that without due diligence is dangerous.” Before he considers using any of these tools, Goodman wants to see research proving that they are beneficial for your health, not just better at answering health questions than some competitor chatbot.When I asked Meta AI for more information about how it would interpret my health information, if I provided any, the chatbot said it was not trying to replace my physician; the outputs were for educational purposes. “Think of me as a med school professor, not your doctor,” said Meta AI. That’s still a lofty claim.The bot said the best way to get an interpretation of my health data was just to “dump the raw data,” like clinical lab reports, and tell it what my goals were. Meta AI would then create charts, summarize the info, and give a “referral nudge if needed.” In other chats I conducted with Meta AI, the bot prompted me to strip personal details before uploading lab results, but these caveats were not present in every test conversation.“People have long used the internet to ask health questions,” a Meta spokesperson tells WIRED. “With Meta AI and Muse Spark, people are in control of what information to share, and our terms make clear they should only share what they’re comfortable with.”In addition to privacy concerns, experts I spoke with expressed trepidation about how these AI tools can be sycophantic and influenced by how users ask questions. “A model might take the information that’s provided more as a given without questioning the assumptions that the patient inherently made when asking the question,” says Agrawal.When I asked how to lose weight and nudged the bot towards extreme answers, Meta AI helped in ways that could be catastrophic for someone with anorexia. As I asked about the benefits of intermittent fasting, I told Meta AI that I wanted to fast five days every week. Despite flagging that this was not for most people and putting me at risk for eating disorders, Meta AI crafted a meal plan for me where I would only eat around 500 calories most days, which would leave me malnourished.#Metas #Asked #Raw #Health #Dataand #Gave #Terrible #Advicehealth,artificial intelligence,health care,machine learning,chatbots,meta,personalized medicine

Gauri Agarwal, a doctor of medicine and associate professor at the University of Miami. “I certainly wouldn’t connect my own health information to a service that I’m not fully able to control, understand where that information is being stored, or how it’s being utilized.” She recommends people stick to lower-stakes, more general interactions, like prepping questions for your doctor.

It can be tempting to rely on AI-assisted help for interpreting health, especially with the skyrocketing cost of medical treatments and overall inaccessibility of regular doctor visits for some people navigating the US health care system.

“You will be forgiven for going online and delegating what used to be a powerful, important personal relationship between a doctor and a patient—to a robot,” says Kenneth Goodman, founder of the University of Miami’s Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy. “I think running into that without due diligence is dangerous.” Before he considers using any of these tools, Goodman wants to see research proving that they are beneficial for your health, not just better at answering health questions than some competitor chatbot.

When I asked Meta AI for more information about how it would interpret my health information, if I provided any, the chatbot said it was not trying to replace my physician; the outputs were for educational purposes. “Think of me as a med school professor, not your doctor,” said Meta AI. That’s still a lofty claim.

The bot said the best way to get an interpretation of my health data was just to “dump the raw data,” like clinical lab reports, and tell it what my goals were. Meta AI would then create charts, summarize the info, and give a “referral nudge if needed.” In other chats I conducted with Meta AI, the bot prompted me to strip personal details before uploading lab results, but these caveats were not present in every test conversation.

“People have long used the internet to ask health questions,” a Meta spokesperson tells WIRED. “With Meta AI and Muse Spark, people are in control of what information to share, and our terms make clear they should only share what they’re comfortable with.”

In addition to privacy concerns, experts I spoke with expressed trepidation about how these AI tools can be sycophantic and influenced by how users ask questions. “A model might take the information that’s provided more as a given without questioning the assumptions that the patient inherently made when asking the question,” says Agrawal.

When I asked how to lose weight and nudged the bot towards extreme answers, Meta AI helped in ways that could be catastrophic for someone with anorexia. As I asked about the benefits of intermittent fasting, I told Meta AI that I wanted to fast five days every week. Despite flagging that this was not for most people and putting me at risk for eating disorders, Meta AI crafted a meal plan for me where I would only eat around 500 calories most days, which would leave me malnourished.

#Metas #Asked #Raw #Health #Dataand #Gave #Terrible #Advicehealth,artificial intelligence,health care,machine learning,chatbots,meta,personalized medicine">Meta’s New AI Asked for My Raw Health Data—and Gave Me Terrible Advice

Medical experts I spoke with balked at the idea of uploading their own health data for an AI model, like Muse Spark, to analyze. “These chatbots now allow you to connect your own biometric data, put in your own lab information, and honestly, that makes me pretty nervous,” says Gauri Agarwal, a doctor of medicine and associate professor at the University of Miami. “I certainly wouldn’t connect my own health information to a service that I’m not fully able to control, understand where that information is being stored, or how it’s being utilized.” She recommends people stick to lower-stakes, more general interactions, like prepping questions for your doctor.

It can be tempting to rely on AI-assisted help for interpreting health, especially with the skyrocketing cost of medical treatments and overall inaccessibility of regular doctor visits for some people navigating the US health care system.

“You will be forgiven for going online and delegating what used to be a powerful, important personal relationship between a doctor and a patient—to a robot,” says Kenneth Goodman, founder of the University of Miami’s Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy. “I think running into that without due diligence is dangerous.” Before he considers using any of these tools, Goodman wants to see research proving that they are beneficial for your health, not just better at answering health questions than some competitor chatbot.

When I asked Meta AI for more information about how it would interpret my health information, if I provided any, the chatbot said it was not trying to replace my physician; the outputs were for educational purposes. “Think of me as a med school professor, not your doctor,” said Meta AI. That’s still a lofty claim.

The bot said the best way to get an interpretation of my health data was just to “dump the raw data,” like clinical lab reports, and tell it what my goals were. Meta AI would then create charts, summarize the info, and give a “referral nudge if needed.” In other chats I conducted with Meta AI, the bot prompted me to strip personal details before uploading lab results, but these caveats were not present in every test conversation.

“People have long used the internet to ask health questions,” a Meta spokesperson tells WIRED. “With Meta AI and Muse Spark, people are in control of what information to share, and our terms make clear they should only share what they’re comfortable with.”

In addition to privacy concerns, experts I spoke with expressed trepidation about how these AI tools can be sycophantic and influenced by how users ask questions. “A model might take the information that’s provided more as a given without questioning the assumptions that the patient inherently made when asking the question,” says Agrawal.

When I asked how to lose weight and nudged the bot towards extreme answers, Meta AI helped in ways that could be catastrophic for someone with anorexia. As I asked about the benefits of intermittent fasting, I told Meta AI that I wanted to fast five days every week. Despite flagging that this was not for most people and putting me at risk for eating disorders, Meta AI crafted a meal plan for me where I would only eat around 500 calories most days, which would leave me malnourished.

#Metas #Asked #Raw #Health #Dataand #Gave #Terrible #Advicehealth,artificial intelligence,health care,machine learning,chatbots,meta,personalized medicine

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