Donald Trump Jr. told attendees at the World Liberty Forum in Palm Beach that interruptions in the family's access to traditional banking services prompted the creation of their crypto business, World Liberty Financial, and criticized U.S. banking as a "Ponzi scheme." The remarks came during an on-stage interview with CNBC's Sara Eisen.
"We got into it out of necessity," Trump Jr. said, adding "They basically forced us into it." He framed the family's move into cryptocurrency as a response to being shut out of established banking relationships rather than as a strategic pivot toward innovation.
Both Trump Jr. and his brother Eric asserted that following the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, multiple banks closed hundreds of Trump Organization accounts. The brothers also alleged that other, smaller clients had been "debanked" by financial institutions for holding conservative political views.
Eric Trump expanded on the brothers' stated objective for their new venture, saying: "We're trying to modernize finance." He further characterized the family as heavily censored in 2020 and 2021, stating, "We're the most cancelled people in the world in 2020, 2021," and framed the launch of World Liberty Financial as a response intended to prevent similar exclusions from happening to others: "And it's really great to almost have this retribution, where all of a sudden we start pushing an agenda, our agenda is to modernize finance to [make sure] that can never, ever happen to anybody again."
Trump Jr. also described how the family's prior banking relationships had functioned, saying they could historically "call any banker in New York... and [get] a loan for a building," but that experience led them to conclude they were "at the top of the Ponzi scheme that was banking." He argued that stablecoins, such as those introduced by World Liberty Financial, "democratizes the ability for people to transact, to do finance, to get loans for businesses that make sense, that didn't exist."
The World Liberty Forum was, in a press release, presented as an event that convened leaders from finance, technology, sports, media, and government to examine forces reshaping the global economy. Trump Jr.'s comments at the forum tied a personal account of banking disruptions to a broader pitch for crypto-based financial tools as alternatives to traditional banking relationships.
Context and implications
The remarks link allegations of account closures in early 2021 to the family's decision to pursue a crypto offering, and position stablecoins as a route to broaden access to lending and transactional services. The brothers emphasized political motivations for what they described as debanking, and framed their new venture as an attempt to prevent similar outcomes for others.
This coverage reports the brothers' statements and the forum's stated purpose as presented on stage and in the event press release.